The U.S. Postal Service generated net income of $295 million before escrow allocation during March, according to financial and operating statements the agency released.
Contributing to the performance was the new postage rate structure implemented Jan. 8, which provided a 5.4 percent revenue increase needed to fulfill the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Act, enacted in 2003. That law required the USPS to place $3 billion in an escrow account by Sept. 30, 2006, to cover the difference between the CSRS retirement costs before and after the law’s implementation. The USPS said it is allocating $250 million monthly for purposes of assessing its financial position.
After the escrow allocation, the financial position for March shifts to a net gain of $45 million.
USPS revenue of $6.59 billion for March was $189 million (3 percent) over plan and $424 million (6.9 percent) more than for March 2005. Expenses were virtually on plan, totaling $6.3 billion.
Year-to-date (Oct. 1, 2005, to March 31, 2006) net income before escrow allocation was $1.57 billion, or $147 million over plan. The YTD net gain after escrow allocation was $74 million.
Total mail volume for March was 18.9 million pieces, up 1.5 percent from the year-ago period. Volumes in all major categories except Express Mail and International Mail surpassed their March 2005 levels. Most of the increase for March 2006 occurred in Standard Mail, which rose 2.3 percent to 9.2 million pieces.
Year to date, total mail volume was 109.2 million pieces, up 0.2 percent over the year-ago period. First Class volume was down 1.3 percent, Standard was up 1.5 percent and Priority was up 7.0 percent.
