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Postal Service ends year with $1.68-billion loss©Associated PressDecember 5, 2001 WASHINGTON -- Battered by the terrorist attacks and a declining economy, the Postal Service saw its first drop in volume in a decade and finished the fiscal year with a $1.68-billion loss. Managers are scrambling to cut expenses, seeking help from Congress and discussing the possibility of speeding up a rate increase. Figures for the year that ended Sept. 30 show the agency with income of $65.8-billion and expenses of $67.5-billion. It was the second consecutive year the agency finished in the red, after making profits for five years. Mail volume for the year totaled 207-billion items, down about 400-million from the year before. The faltering economy and increased competition were the primary causes of the losses, along with the September terror attacks, said postal chief financial officer Richard Strasser. Even though the anthrax mailings occurred after the start of this fiscal year, they too pose major financial problems for the postal service. President Bush has released $175-million in emergency money, and postal officials have gone before Congress requesting additional aid. The post office has applied to the independent Postal Rate Commission for an increase next year that would add 3 cents to the current 34-cent first-class stamp. The next increase had been expected to take effect in late September or early October of next year, but officials said it could be moved up to as early as June. Earlier this year, postal officials feared that losses for the year just ended would rise from $2-billion to $3-billion, but sharp cutbacks in spending, a construction freeze and other savings trimmed that to $1.7-billion.
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