Who is the new postmaster general?
The new man in the chair is faced with an uphill struggle. A quick flick through the news pages makes sorry reading for USPS. Earlier this year, the company ended its Q3 with a net loss of $3.5bn, with one USPS executive claiming that liquidity remains a “major concern”. A month later, the US Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a USPS plan to increase the price of sending a letter by 2 cents – a proposal that formed a key part of the operator’s huge cost-cutting programme. USPS is now pursuing legal action over the rejection. To compound the misery, Post&Parcel reported last week that the company is set to lose tens of millions of dollars for a series of “willful” health and safety violations at its processing facilities across America. Although some might think the role of postmaster general is a poisoned chalice, Donahoe remains adamant that the operator will turn things around. “We’re not going to do things to kill this organisation,” Donohoe told The Federal Eye last year.
