U.s. Postal Service | featured news

Think snail mail is too slow? Imagine if it got slower. The U.S. Postal Service could save about $1.5 billion annually if it relaxed its one- to three-day guarantees for First-Class and Priority Mail deliveries by a day, according to a new study. Postal executives are seriously considering the idea and are expected to announce new plans regarding delivery schedules after Labor Day, according to USPS officials.

The U.S. Postal Service would eliminate about 220,000 full-time jobs and shutter about 300 processing facilities by 2015 under a proposal to bring its finances in order, a postal official said on Friday.

The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in.

The governing body of two of the Washington area’s main airports is expected to tap the former head of the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday as its next chief executive, according to sources familiar with the search.

A Portland, Ore., mail carrier caught on camera defecating just feet from a home along his route has been suspended, the U.S. Postal Service says.

The U.S. Postal Service could save billions of dollars by ending Saturday mail deliveries, according to the Government Accountability Office. Postal officials — eager to stave off an estimated $7 billion in losses this year — think they can save about $3 billion annually by stopping weekend mail deliveries while still keeping post offices open on Saturdays.

The U.S. Postal Service said on Thursday it would cut 7,500 jobs and close seven district offices and 2,000 post offices as it handles less mail and faces greater staff costs.

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service delivered more bad news Friday, announcing it lost $8.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended in September. Without congressional action to change its obligations, officials said, the Postal Service likely will go broke at the end of fiscal 2011.

The agency predicts a cash shortfall for 2011 after net losses in 14 of the last 16 fiscal quarters. The U.S. Postal Service reported a quarterly net loss of $3.5 billion Thursday and said it will likely have a cash shortfall going into 2011.

The Postal Service is ready to deliver lifesaving drugs to a quarter of the residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul after a bioterror attack.