Postal Service Delivers Major First Quarter Loss

The U.S. Postal Service ended its first quarter (Oct. 1 to Dec. 31) with a net loss of $384 million as the economic recession contributed to a 5.2 billion piece mail volume decline compared to the same period last year. The 9.3 percent volume drop marked the eighth consecutive quarter of accelerating volume declines. With no economic recovery expected for the remainder of FY 2009, the Postal Service projects volume for the year to be down by 12 to 15 billion pieces.