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Postal Service loss widens in fiscal 3rd quarter 

Operating expense increases nearly 10% as inflation takes toll

Postal Service losses widen in fiscal third quarter (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The U.S. Postal Service continues to bleed red ink.

In its fiscal 2023 third quarter, which ended June 30, the Postal Service lost $860 million on an adjusted, non-GAAP basis, compared with an adjusted $459 million loss. On a GAAP basis, the net loss was $1.7 billion, compared to net income of $59.7 million in the year-earlier quarter. 

Operating revenue declined 0.9% to $18.6 billion, the Postal Service said.

Shipping and package volume in the quarter was down 2.4% to 1.7 billion pieces from 1.74 billion. Shipping and package revenue remained virtually flat at $7.5 billion.


Total revenue came in at $18.57 billion, down from $18.7 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Volume fell to 27 billion pieces from 30.4 billion. First-class mail and marketing mail posted a combined drop of about 2 billion pieces.

Total operating expenses rose 9.6% to $20.5 billion, the Postal Service said.

When the Postal Service launched its 10-year “Deliver for America” plan in March 2021, it had hoped to be at financial breakeven by FY 2023. That objective was abandoned some time ago. On Tuesday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told the agency’s board of governors that “significant inflation costs,” among other strains, have added $6 billion of unplanned cost in 2023 and “will be in our operating cost base well into the future.”


3 Comments

  1. Gregg R

    The USPS needs to be disbanded. The original purpose of what would later become the USPS was for the colonies to be able to communicate with Europe. Mainly England. That purpose has been irrelevant for centuries. It was never meant to, nor should it, be competing with private businesses to deliver packages. Nor should it be an instrument for businesses to save money vs private carriers since a government entirety will always enjoy unfair advantages (particularly going through customs) over private companies. Plus, despite their advantages they still fail to deliver. (Pun intended) And lose money due to in efficiency and the usual government bureaucracy. Not the tale of the sole reason being that they were “forced” to presume the pensions 75 years out. The Postal Reform Act didn’t require that far out.

    The USPS is yet another example of how the government sucks at everything.

    And no….The Constitution doesn’t require the existence of the USPS. It simply gives congress the power to create postal roads. We don’t need the USPS. Once boomers, who are the main demographic that uses it, have died off it will be time to terminate the USPSs existence. If not sooner. The sooner the better.

  2. Christina

    We are tired of lining the pockets of upper management while the workers get the shaft !!! I’m sure none of them took a pay cut !! To top it off , a safety person came in with marshmallows , handed one to each carrier. Told them to squash it , that’s your vertebrae when u don’t drink enough water !!! She probably gets paid a 6 figure salary !!!! In the meantime , we have LLVs , transmission is shot , another one , no horn , another one no hazard lights , speedometer is broke etc
    ….. all the while , brand new vehicles are sitting , not being used at all !!! I’ve got 3 years left , I’m counting down the days !!!! Piss poor upper management , has no clue what’s going on in these offices , how can a business run like this ????? Your gonna lose money , Duh Joy !!!!

  3. Dustin A Paxson

    The postmaster general has no business doing that job he has no idea how this stuff works nor does he even talk to any employees doing the work the actual work out there delivering everyday like I do it’s kind of funny how there’s no more first class it’s now ground advantage like FedEx which he owns stock in what a follower you take an institution that was here first in the 1800s and change it into something else or try to you sir are a f****** idiot I think your plan is to actually ruin the post office and close it down but what do I know I’m just a lonely rural carrier doing your work for less money but you get your amount don’t you those pay cuts that all of us have had to take should come out of your pocket not ours as far as I’m concerned the whole postal corporation needs to be investigated there’s a lot of shady s*** that goes on a lot of unfair biddings that people know nothing about it’s a shame because the public doesn’t have a clue well that’s all for now Lewis D joy more like Louis da dumbass

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Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.