[press release[
‘STAMPS ON VANS’ – FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ROYAL MAIL SPECIAL STAMPS TO FEATURE ON ITS VANS IN TOWNS AND CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Royal Mail is, for the first time, to feature images of its Special Stamps on a number of its vehicles

The set of six Christmas Special Stamps will be the first to be publicised in this way from Monday 10 November

Around 1500 vans across the country will feature the images

The stamps will be displayed on vans in 26 towns and cities around the UK including Liverpool, Sheffield, London, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth and Leicester
Royal Mail today announced the launch of a campaign that will see, for the first time ever, images of its Special Stamps featured on its delivery vans,

Beginning with the set of six Christmas stamps, which are now on sale, images of the stamps will appear on around 1,500 Royal Mail vans across 26 towns and cities across the UK.

This will be a rolling programme that will incorporate all of the upcoming Special Stamp issues in 2015. There will be a special emphasis on places across the country that have a strong association with the image on the stamp. The images are printed on adhesive vinyls and applied to the vans.

Andrew Hammond, Royal Mail said: “This is the first in what will be an on-going campaign to feature our Special Stamp Programme across the country using our familiar red postal vans, The size and reach of our fleet should help create high levels of public awareness.”

The Christmas stamps will appear in 26 towns and cities:

London
Birmingham
Glasgow
Leeds
Edinburgh
Liverpool
Bristol
Sheffield
Bradford
Cardiff
Manchester
Leicester
Stoke-on-Trent
Hull
Coventry
Nottingham
Belfast
Plymouth
Sunderland
Brighton
Derby
Wolverhampton
Southampton
Aberdeen
Bangor
Inverness

[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Reports Revenue Increase, $5.5 Billion Loss in Fiscal 2014

• Shipping and Package Services Revenue Up 9.1 Percent
• January 2014 Price Increase and Shipping and Packages Growth Drives Operating Revenue up $569 Million
• Persistent Losses Reaffirm Need for Comprehensive Legislative Reform

WASHINGTON — Due to a cyber-security intrusion that the U.S. Postal Service announced on Nov. 10, management and external auditors are currently reviewing significant financial applications to confirm that the incident did not compromise the financial data needed to file the Postal Service’s fiscal 2014 Form 10-K. There is no indication at this time that the data was compromised, but out of an abundance of caution, the Postal Service will delay filing of the 10-K—which it had planned to do  today—until review procedures are complete. The review, which has already begun, is expected to take several more weeks. View the Postal Service’s cyber intrusion statement for more information about the incident.

In the interest of transparency, however, the Postal Service presented unaudited financial results for fiscal 2014 at its open Board of Governors meeting today and will again present the unaudited financial results at a financial briefing call today at 11 a.m.

At the Board meeting, the Postal Service reported that operating revenue increased $569 million in fiscal year 2014 (Oct. 1, 2013 – Sept. 30, 2014). Excluding a one-time adjustment to revenue of $1.3 billion in 2013 resulting from a change in accounting estimate for Forever stamps, 2014 operating revenue would have increased by $1.9 billion. This revenue growth resulted from the January 2014 price increase and strong growth in the Shipping and Packages business. Offsetting this positive news, however, were legislative burdens and constraints that contributed to a $5.5 billion net loss in 2014. This eighth consecutive annual net loss underscores the need for comprehensive legislation to repair the Postal Service’s broken business model.

The net loss includes $5.7 billion for the prefunding requirement of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund and an additional $1.2 billion in non-cash workers’ compensation expense, consisting of $485 million related to changes in interest rates and $697 million of other non-cash workers’ compensation expense. These items are outside of management’s control.

“We have grown our revenue for two years in a row, primarily through growth in our package business and price changes, and we are making strong progress in many core areas of our business — from operational performance, to data and technology use, to developing and marketing new products and services — all of which are helping to build a strong foundation for the future of the organization,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe. “While we still have major issues to resolve with regard to our business model and legislative constraints, our message today is about momentum and progress.”

“In 2014 we set another record for productivity,” said Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett. “Even as we continued growing our package business, we reduced work hours, transportation expenses, and compensation and benefits expenses.

“The legally mandated $5.7 billion prefunding requirement for the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund contributed to our continuing losses,” said Corbett. “Due to lack of sufficient cash, we were forced to default on the $5.7 billion prepayment, underscoring the need for legislative change.”

The Postal Service’s key legislative requirements:

• Require within the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program a set of specific health care plans that would fully integrate with Medicare and virtually eliminate the retiree health benefits unfunded liability and eliminate the need for multibillion dollar annual prefunding.
• Adjust the Federal Employee Retirement System payment amount using Postal Service specific demographic and salary growth assumptions and refund any existing surplus.
• Adjust required delivery frequency (six-day packages/five-day mail).
• Streamline governance model and eliminate duplicative oversight.
  Provide authority to expand products and services.
• Require a defined contribution retirement system for future Postal Service employees.
• Require arbitrators to consider the financial condition of the Postal Service.
• Reform workers’ compensation programs.

Results of Operations
Highlights of yearly results compared to the same period last year:
Operating revenue was $67.8 billion compared to $67.2 billion in 2013. Without the 2013 one-time adjustment as noted above, 2014 operating revenue increased by $1.9 billion over last year’s revenue. As a result of growth in our package business and the price increases implemented, this is the second consecutive year of revenue growth, reversing a four-year trend of revenue declines that began in 2008.

Total mail volume was 155.4 billion pieces compared to 158.2 billion pieces a year ago, a decrease of 2.8 billion pieces or 1.8 percent. Shipping and Package Services volume grew by 300 million pieces, an increase of 8.1 percent. First-Class Mail, our most profitable service line, and Standard Mail volume decreased by 2.2 billion and 495 million pieces, respectively.

Operating expenses were $73.2 billion in 2014 compared to $72.1 billion in 2013. A non-cash adjustment for interest rate changes associated with workers’ compensation caused $2.2 billion of the increase year over year. This was offset by a $737 million reduction in other workers’ compensation expense and a $708 million reduction in compensation and benefits expenses.

Expenses include the required $5.7 billion contribution to the retiree health care benefits fund that the Postal Service was unable to make by the due date of Sept. 30, 2014. Unless legislation reforms the retiree health care benefits program, the Postal Service will likely be forced to default on its prefunding obligations in 2015 and 2016.

The resulting net loss for the 2014 fiscal year was $5.5 billion compared to a net loss of $5.0 billion in 2013.

[press release]
Postal Service Board of Governors Selects Megan Brennan as 74th Postmaster General and CEO of the United States Postal Service

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors today announced the appointment of Megan J. Brennan, the current chief operating officer of the Postal Service, as the 74th Postmaster General and CEO.

Speaking at a public meeting of the Board this morning, Mickey D. Barnett, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, praised Brennan – who will become the first woman to be Postmaster General – as the ideal choice to replace the current Postmaster General, Patrick R. Donahoe, who will be retiring in early 2015.

“Megan has demonstrated outstanding vision, leadership and executive ability in her role as chief operating officer, and has been extraordinarily successful in managing the operations of the Postal Service,” said Barnett.” She is highly regarded throughout the Postal Service and among the broader community of our major customers and business partners – and rightly so.”

As chief operation officer, Brennan is responsible for the day-to-day activities of 491,000 career employees working in more than 31,000 facilities supported by a fleet of more than 200,000 vehicles. She is responsible for all Postal Service operations, including mail processing, transportation, delivery and retail operations.

“As the head of operations, Megan has led important initiatives to provide Sunday delivery services, improved tracking, and greater predictability and reliability,” said Barnett. “She has also been highly successful in rationalizing our mail processing, delivery and retail operations.”

Barnett also commended Brennan’s role in maintaining a high delivery performances in the face of a significant and continued reduction in workforce and resources.  “Megan has managed some very large, complex organizational changes and the Postal Service never missed a beat in terms meeting customer expectations,” said Barnett. “She instills great confidence in the ability of the organization to succeed and achieve its business goals.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to take on this role at such an exciting time for the organization,” said Brennan. “The Postal Service plays a vital role in America’s society and economy and I’m looking forward to strengthening that role and meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving marketplace in the years ahead.”

Megan J. Brennan was named Chief Operating Officer and executive vice president in December 2010. Reporting directly to the Postmaster General, Brennan has led the continuous improvement of the postal network operation as well as the allocations of people and resources.

Previously she was vice president of Eastern Area Operations. As the senior postal official she oversaw an area that encompassed Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Central and South Jersey, Western New York and parts of Virginia and Indiana.  A 28-year veteran of the Postal Service, Brennan served as vice president of Northeast Area Operations from May 2005 until being named vice president of Eastern Area Operations.

Brennan joined the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and began her management career as a delivery and collection supervisor.   Brennan is a graduate of Immaculata College in Pennsylvania. She is a Sloan Fellow and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[press release]
Postmaster General Donahoe to Retire February 2015
Praised highly by Postal Governors for leading organization through financial crisis

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service Board of Governors announced [November 14th] that Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Patrick R. Donahoe has decided to retire February 1, 2015, after 39 years with the Postal Service.

At a public meeting of the Board of Governors this morning, Mickey D. Barnett, Chairman of the Board, called Donahoe a visionary leader who worked tirelessly to move the organization forward during one of its most difficult periods.

“Pat was the calm in the financial storm. He ignored the naysayers and went forward with his team and built a comprehensive plan for the future of the organization, made tough decisions, and executed against those decisions,” said Barnett. “That’s a testament to the great team he built and his own personal leadership.”

Donahoe became Postmaster General during a severe financial crisis, the result of an inflexible business model that limited the organization’s ability to respond to declining First-Class Mail volumes. Donahoe created an integrated financial plan and took aggressive measures to control costs – including the rationalization of mail processing, delivery and Post Office operations. These changes have significantly lowered the cost base of the Postal Service.

Commenting on the fact that the Postal Service has roughly 220,000 fewer employees today than it did in 2004, Barnett noted that “no other organization has restructured itself so dramatically and on such a large scale, and continued functioning at such a high level.  And it did so without relying upon employee lay-offs.”

“That’s the result of Pat taking responsible steps to ensure that changes don’t come at the expense of those who have made their career at the Postal Service,” said Barnett.  “There were plenty who argued for layoffs and other dramatic steps and Pat was always the voice that argued for doing the right thing for the organization and the employees – and that’s a tremendous legacy.”

“Pat’s leadership and advocacy for the organization has been remarkable,” said Barnett. “He has been an excellent strategist for the organization and the mailing industry it serves.”

Donahoe served as a constant cheerleader for mail as a marketing channel and pushed for more integration between mail and digital communications in the mailing industry. Under his leadership, the Postal Service launched several new mailing products and enhancements including Every Door Direct Mail which has generated more than $1 billion in new revenue. Donahoe also guided the organization’s shipping and package strategies to capitalize on the rapid increase of e-commerce.  In the last few years, the Postal Service has seen double digit growth each year in its package business.

Speaking this morning, Donahoe said he believes the organization is headed in the right direction, but still has a long way to go. “The organization has a lot of momentum right now, and we’re doing a lot to innovate and improve the way we serve the public and our customers,” stated Donahoe. “The nature of delivery is changing dramatically and the Postal Service will continue to be an important part of those changes.”

Appointed Postmaster General by the Postal Service Board of Governors in October, 2010, Mr. Donahoe began his 39-year USPS career as a clerk in Pittsburgh, PA while attending college at the University of Pittsburgh.  Prior to his appointment as the organization’s top officer, he served as Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer.

“Working for a brand that touches every citizen of this great country every day has been a tremendous honor,” stated Donahoe.  “It’s always difficult to walk away from something you love and have a lot of passion for, but knowing that the organization is moving forward with a strong plan and lot of momentum makes it easier.”

A native of Pittsburgh, Mr. Donahoe and his wife have two children and two grandchildren.”

[Donahoe will be succeeded by Megan Brennan, the first woman to hold the post. The press release is here.]