Package delivery volume for the post office is up 14% since 2010!
Package volume is UP for the postal service, but that comes at a negative cost to the USPS. Other than first class mail revenue, every other service that the USPS offers operates at a business loss, and it was the first class revenue that made up the difference for the last 25 years.
Unfortunately, as the internet takes away more and more first class revenue each year, the first class revenue can no longer make up the deficits of the other services and today, first class revenue is barely covering itself.
There is NO WAY to reverse this.
Increasing prices will not help unless you raise the first class stamp to 1.50 cents, and that will only chase away the remaining people who use the postal service which are mainly OLD PEOPLE.
It used to be that a 2 cent increase would be enough to cover costs, but not anymore. With 18 billion a year in deficits, massive cuts, layoffs, building closures, reductions in pension and healthcare liabilities will only bring the yearly loss to around 9 billion dollars, which in the end is still enough to wipe out the postal service.
Raising the price of the stamp to 1.50 would bring in enough revenue, however, people will stop using the service alltogether.
The life span of the postal service under the current business model has less than 10 years left. Next thing the postal board is considering is charging customers a monthly fee for the service. This would help, but its unclear how people would respond to the idea.
Peace
TOS