USPS Reports Declines in January Revenue and Mail Volumes

Declines in both volume and revenue made January a less than stellar financial month for the U.S. Postal Service.

Total revenue between Jan. 1 and 28 dropped 3.1% to $4.7 billion from $4.8 billion a year earlier while volume for the period dropped 2.8% to 15.7 billion pieces from the previous year’s total of 16.2 billion.

Overall income since mid-September, when its fiscal year began, is up 4.4% to $24.7 billion from $23.6 billion and total volume is up 1.6% to 81.4 billion pieces from 80.1 billion pieces a year ago.

Direct marketers and mass mailers provided the USPS with the only real bright spot for the month, raising Standard A (advertising) mail revenue by 2.6% to $1.1 billion from $1 billion a year ago, increasing volume by 1.5% to 6.5 billion pieces from last year’s 6.4 billion pieces.

That bright spot translates into an overall increase of 4.2% in Standard A Mail revenue for the year, $5.9 billion versus $5.7 billion a year earlier and a 2.1 % increase in volume, 35.2 billion pieces compared to 34.5 billion pieces in the previous year.

While Standard B mailers provided the USPS with a 2.6% increase in revenue for January, $1.1 billion versus $1 million a year ago, they mailed 2.6% less, causing volume for the month to drop to 75.7 million pieces from 77.7 million pieces a year ago.

The sharpest declines in revenue and volume reported by the USPS for January was in the free and reduced-rate category. While revenue dropped 8.6% to $119 million from $130 million, volume dropped 17.6% to 69.4 million pieces from the previous year’s total of 80.2 million pieces.

Income from international mail revenue for the period dropped 9.3% to $108.4 million from $119.5 million a year earlier while volume went down 13.4% to 69.4 million pieces from 80.2 million pieces a year earlier.

First class revenue in January dropped 5.6% to $2.7 billion from $2.9 billion while volume went down 5.8% to 8.1 billion pieces from 8.7 billion pieces.

Although priority mail volume dropped 3.3%, 91.6 million pieces versus 94.7 million pieces, income rose 0.9% to $363.0 million from $360.7 million a year earlier. Expedited mail volume dropped 2.8% to 5 million pieces from 5.2 million a year earlier leading to an 0.8% drop in revenue, $71 million versus $71.5 million in the previous year.

Periodicals revenue went down 3.2%, to $157.8 million from $163 million because of a 2% decline in volume, 774.1 million pieces compared with 789.7 million pieces a year earlier.