Credit When It’s Due

3. Since 1999, the USPS has reduced its total work hours by a cumulative 728 million.

4. The agency expects to balance its $68 billion budget in fiscal year 2005, despite higher fuel costs and a decline in first-class mail volume.

Boosting productivity and reducing costs always are good places to begin an organizational turnaround. And Potter and his team deserve credit for doing just that.