FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Media Relations
January 6, 2004 202-268-2155
www.usps.com
STATEMENT OF S. DAVID FINEMAN, CHAIRMAN BOARD OF GOVERNORS REGARDING
ENHANCED FINANCIAL REPORTING
The President's Commission on the United States Postal Service stated
that the Postal Service should set the standard for financial
transparency by which all other Federal entities are judged.
In furtherance of this goal, the Commission recommended that the Postal
Service voluntarily comply with applicable provisions of the major
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting requirements.
Last August, at the Board's direction, the Postal Service initiated an
effort to enhance financial reporting. I am pleased to report that
significant progress has been made. The 2003 Annual Report, which is
posted on our web site and will be distributed this week in hard copy,
includes enhanced disclosures in the footnotes and the Management
Discussion and Analysis section. Also, in the First Quarter of Fiscal
Year 2004, the Postal Service has begun to publicly report significant
events, on our web site, in accordance with SEC Form 8-K reporting
requirements. Additional progress will be achieved with the issuance of
the Quarter 1, Fiscal Year 2004 Financial Report in February.
Consistent with SEC Form 10-Q, this report will include an enhanced
Management Discussion and Analysis section and expanded financial
statements.
Finally, earlier today the Board reviewed with the Postmaster General
and his principal officers the topic of annual disclosures as they are
reported through SEC Form 10-K. In the coming months we will complete
plans to further enhance our annual financial reporting.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Public Relations
January 6, 2004 202-268-2155
Rel. # 001
USPS Web Site: www.usps.com
LAST MINUTE SURGE STRETCHES
HOLIDAY MAIL VOLUME ENVELOPE
WASHINGTON, DC - Last-minute mailers deluging the nation's 38,000 Post
Offices days before Christmas serves as a testament to America's
reliance on the Postal Service to deliver 78 million more letters and
cards than were postmarked during last year's holiday season, the
Postmaster General told the agency's Board of Governors today at their
monthly meeting.
"Americans waited almost to the last minute to mail their holiday cards
and packages," John E. Potter told the Governors. "Volume was down
through mid-December. Then, six days before Christmas, we experienced
heavy customer mailings," he said. A record 3.4 billion cards and
letters were postmarked between December 1 and December 24. Postmarks
on Monday, December 22 increased by 25 percent over last year.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas the Postal Service handled more than
20 billion pieces of mail. On the busiest mailing day, Monday, December
15, more than 850 million pieces of mail entered the postal system.
Wednesday, December 17 was the year's busiest delivery day with
approximately one billion pieces.
Mail Builds Morale in the Military
Americans also continued to use the mail to show their support for loved
ones in the military. More than 24 million pounds of holiday mail to
the Persian Gulf and other military locations worldwide surpassed last
year's military holiday volumes by 11 million pounds, to reflect an
increase of almost 85 percent.
Prior to the holiday period, military mail to the Gulf region was
transported daily on a chartered 747 aircraft. To transport mail during
December, 52 chartered aircraft carried approximately seven million
pounds of mail to military service members deployed to Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
To provide superior service during the Postal Service's 2003 holiday
delivery season, more than 2.85 billion holiday stamps were available at
82,000 locations. This included 38,000 Post Offices - many open late and
on Sundays; more than 21,000 supermarkets, convenience stores and
drugstores; 16,000 ATMs and 7,000 vending machines in shopping malls,
office parks and airports.
While hundreds of additional trucks were added to create direct routes
between metropolitan areas, the need for additional holiday hires was
reduced to approximately 13,000 from last year's 20,000 due to advances
in mail processing technology. Today's high-speed sorting equipment can
process nearly 80 percent of all handwritten addressed mail.
Two week's prior to Christmas, the Postal Service's National and Area
Operations Center network operated around the clock. Around the same
time, the Postal Service expanded the capacity of its air cargo network
by nearly 40 percent. The network shared information on operations and
mail flow between mail processing and distribution centers and with
major mailing customers.
This Post Office Never Closes
The Post Office on the web was also extremely busy. On an average day
usps.com receives about a half million visits. December 15, as the
busiest mailing day, generated more than 1.2 million hits -- almost
doubling last year's peak of nearly 700,000.
Among other features, similar to a traditional Post Office, customers
visiting usps.com can buy stamps, calculate postage, look up ZIP Codes,
track and confirm mail delivery, change their address and ask to have
their mail held.
Customers mailing packages could use a credit card to obtain
postage-paid address labels and avoid a trip to the Post Office by
mailing from their mailbox or handing the package to a letter carrier.
2004 Challenges
Potter also detailed to the Board three important challenges to the
Board that the Postal Service will face in the new year. He said the
Postal Service will focus its efforts on improving service, growing new
revenue and working with Congress to enact legislative changes that will
create a new business model for the future. Potter also called on the
mailing industry to "come together and make their voices heard in the
debate for change and reform."
"Our number one legislative priority continues to be the elimination of
the requirement to create an escrow account with funds made available
from last year's Civil Service Retirement System legislation," he said.
The legislation asked the Postal Service for its proposals regarding the
use of "savings" resulting from the act, beginning in 2006. Those
"savings" would be placed in an escrow account pending Congressional
authorization about how they would be used. With the escrow
requirement, postage rates will have to rise even more than is necessary
to reflect inflation.
Board of Governors
In other activity, Chairman S. David Fineman detailed the Postal
Service's efforts to enhance its financial reporting beginning last
August. The Board of Governors also reelected Fineman of Philadelphia,
PA as Chairman and John F. Walsh of Branford, CT as Vice Chairman.
Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families,
neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency
that visits 141 million homes and businesses every day and is the only
service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal
Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives
its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and
services. With annual revenues of more than $68.5 billion, it is the
world's leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some
of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal
Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some
202 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and
serves seven million customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations
nationwide.
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