Postal Service Posts a Profit of $1.57 Billion
The U.S. Postal Service handled a record amount of mail in fiscal 1996 and earned a profit of $1.57 billion, the agency reported Tuesday.
Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, delivering final financial reports to the service’s board of governors, said, “This performance reinforces our commitment that there will be no general rate increase at least through 1997.”
The rate increase to 32 cents for first-class mail that took effect in 1995 boosted income, and a huge jump in mail volume--by 2 million to 182.7 billion pieces--added to the agency’s cash flow.
The $1.57 billion profit is about $200 million less than 1995’s record earnings, “the best financial one-two punch in our history,” Runyon said.
Chief Financial Officer Michael Riley said the last two years’ net income has been larger than all the combined positive net incomes in the past. The post office became an independent agency in 1972.
“The two years of profits have allowed us to accelerate our investments in buildings and high-tech equipment in order to become even more efficient,” Runyon said.
At the same time, Riley said the post office has been able to reduce its outstanding debt by 19% to $5.9 billion.
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