USPS Reports $3.5 Billion Loss in Third Quarter, Running Low on Cash

The U.S. Postal Service ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 (April 1 - June 30) with a net loss of $3.5 billion, compared with a net loss of $2.4 billion for the same quarter last year. Third-quarter mail volume totaled 40.9 billion pieces - down approximately 700 million pieces, or 1.7 percent, compared to a year ago. The USPS blamed much of the losses in the past few years to "an unprecedented decline in mail volume - down by more than 20 percent since 2007. The replacement of letter mail and business-transactions mail by electronic alternatives continues