Postmaster General John Potter: Postal Finances are Improving, Reform Still Needed

WASHINGTON, DC – Postal finances are improving but reform is still needed, Postmaster General John Potter reported during testimony delivered to a U.S. Senate subcommittee today. Significant reforms are needed to respond to financial problems brought on by changing technologies in an increasingly global and digital marketplace. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), a member of the committee, reinforced his intention to put out comprehensive postal reform legislation early next year. Excerpts of Carper’s comments from today’s hearing are below. “We’ve learned today that the Postal Service’s budget deficit will be significantly smaller than was originally projected. That’s good news. But the Postal Service doesn’t find itself in this position because people are giving up on email or electronic bill pay. The move to newer, electronic means of communication is happening, and will continue to happen. The Postal Service finds itself with a rapidly improving short-term budget outlook because it has engaged in some dramatic cost cutting. “I think it should be clear to everyone that the kind of cost cutting the Postal Service has engaged in this year cannot be sustained and will not be what makes the Postal Service a fiscally sound entity in the long term. “We need real reform of the way the Postal Service does business. Whether it comes from a Presidential Commission, or from Congress- as I think it should, postal reform is necessary.” Carper sits on the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the United States Postal Service. It has been thirty years since any real changes were made within the U.S. Postal Service, the third largest employer in the world and a key part of the nation’s economy. Postmaster John Potter testified before the Governmental Affairs Committees’ Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services as part of his annual report to Congress.