The Postal Service reported a net loss of $586 million for the third quarter of FY 2015 which is actually an improvement for an agency that has been bleeding money.
The loss was a reduction of $1.4 billion from the net loss of $2 billion for same period last year.
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett said that increased package revenue and productivity gains were not sufficient to offset mail volume declines despite a price increase that went into effect at the end of May. Operating revenue was $16.5 billion for the quarter, essentially unchanged from the same period last year. Corbett blamed contractual increases in operating expenses, including wages, benefits and transportation.
Controllable loss in the third quarter was $197 million, compared to a controllable income of $10 million for the same period last year. However for the year-to-date period, the Postal Service has achieved a controllable net income of $1.2 billion. Controllable income or loss is defined as net income excluding retiree health benefits prefunding expense and expenses for interest rate and other non-cash workers’ compensation expense, which are factors largely outside of management’s control.
Other highlights from the Q3 results include:
- Total mail volume of 36.8 billion pieces decreased by 738 million pieces from 37.5 billion pieces.
- Shipping and Package volume increased 13.4 percent.
- First-Class Mail and Standard Mail volume decreased by 2.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
- Operating revenue of $16.5 billion increased slightly.
- Operating expenses of $17.1 billion decreased by $1.3 billion or 7.2 percent.
- Controllable operating expenses of $16.7 billion increased by $256 million or 1.6 percent.
- Non-Controllable operating expenses of $389 million decreased by $1.6 billion or 80.2 percent
