The U.S. Postal Service reported a net loss of $166 million in the quarter ended May 24, $312 million below the nearly $150 million in income forecast, said USPS CFO Richard Strasser, in a statement.
Revenue increased 3.5% over the same period last year, but were $603 million (3.7%) below plan.
Expenses were $291 million dollars less than budgeted.
For the year to date, Postal Service revenue was $46.7 billion and expenses totaled $47.1 billion for an overall net loss of $422 million. Overall growth in total mail volume continued to decline from 3.3% in the first quarter and 0.8% in the second quarter to nearly nothing in the third quarter.
Despite the loss, the Direct Marketing Association urged the USPS not to seek another rate hike before Jan. 1, 2002. To support this, the DMA said that the Postal Service is expected to receive additional revenue from three sources: Funds generated from modification of its rate schedule; implementation on July 1 of a previously announced rate increase; and revenue from President Bush
