Canada Post sees profit, USPS turns in loss

During the third quarter, Canada Post saw a profit of $11.5 million. For the year, USPS was down $5.5 billion.    Continued growth in the parcels business has pushed Canada Post into the black for the third quarter, as the post office recorded a $13 million profit ($11.56 million), compared to a $129 million loss during the third quarter of 2013.
   During the first three quarters of the year, Canada Post put up a profit of $39 million; through the same period last year, the post office posted a loss of $165 million.
   The U.S. Postal Service recently announced it is expecting package volume growth during the holiday season of somewhere between 450 million and 470 million packages. Growth of this magnitude would represent growth rate of 12 percent, year-over-year.
   To take even greater advantage of the USPS’ upswing in package volume, the post office began delivering packages seven days a week Nov. 17. The new service levels will be in place through Christmas Day.
   The USPS recently announced that Patrick Donahoe, who has served as postmaster general of 39 years, will retire on Feb. 1.  He will be replaced by Megan Brennan, who has served as the post office’s chief operating officer since December 2010. When she takes her new post in February, Brennan will become the first woman to serve as postmaster general.  
   “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,” Mickey D. Barnett, chairman of the board, stated. “That’s a testament to the great team he built and his own personal leadership.”  
   In August, USPS reported a third-quarter net loss of $2 billion, compared to a net loss of $740 million during the same period in 2013. The postal service’s fiscal year runs from October to October. For fiscal year 2014, USPS turned in a net loss of $5.5 billion.