Postal Loss Seen at $6B as Donahoe Asks U.S. Congress Aid:
The government agency that’s supposed to support itself through postage sales lost about $3 billion in the first half of its fiscal year, from Oct. 1 through March 31, Donahoe said in an interview airing this weekend on Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations With Judy Woodruff.” That decline is projected to double by the year’s end, which is Sept. 30, he said.
The Postal Service continued its money-losing streak by reporting a first-quarter loss of $1.3 billion. The service is scheduled to release second-quarter results May 10, when its board meets in Washington.
Donahoe said the agency has cut costs by $15 billion since 2006, and now it’s up to Congress to take the next step. If Congress doesn’t allow the service to alter its business model and reduce its benefits costs, a taxpayer bailout through 2017 would cost $58 billion, he said last month.
“Congress needs to move now on postal legislation,” Donahoe said in the interview.
