Post Office continues to lose ground/profits to e-mail

Everyone knew that e-mail would have an impact on the Post Office, but after hundreds of years of adapting to technological change, it was hoped that the U.S. Mail would survive and thrive. Instead, it lost another $3.8 billion this year in addition to steady losses previous years.

The post office has been struggling to cope with a decline in mail volume caused by the shift to the Internet as well as the recession that resulted in a drop in advertising and other mail. Total mail volume was 177.1 billion pieces, compared to 202.7 billion pieces in 2008, a decline of almost 13 percent.
For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 the agency had income of $68.1 billion, $6.8 billion less than in 2008. Expenditures were down $5.9 billion to $71.8 billion.

The Postmaster General has a number of plans to reduce costs in 2010, including closing facilities and possibly reducing or eliminating Saturday delivery.