Spot truckload rates surge to start New Year

Through the first five weeks of the third quarter, the average time for delivery of mail and packages across the postal network remained just 2.4 days. Third quarter service performance scores covering April 1 through May 6 included: *First-Class Mail: 93.5 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 5.6 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Marketing Mail: 95.0 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Periodicals: 86.8 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 5.3 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter.

The U.S. Postal Service today announced its financial results for the 2023 fiscal year ended September 30. The net loss totaled $6.5 billion, compared to net income of $56.0 billion for the prior year. The net income last year was due primarily to the one-time non-cash impact of the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) in April 2022 and the results this year were significantly affected by the impact of inflation on operating expenses. Results under GAAP include retiree benefits expense for the amortization of underfunded Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) plans, and workers’ compensation expenses caused by actuarial revaluation and discount rate changes, as well as the impact of the PSRA for the same period last year. The Postal Service reports its adjusted results excluding these costs. Total operating revenue was $78.2 billion for the year, a decrease of $321 million, or 0.4 percent, compared to the same period last year, as package revenue increases were offset by mail revenue declines. Revenue for the overall Shipping and Packages category increased $324 million, or 1.0 percent, on a volume decline of 175 million pieces, or 2.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. Marketing Mail revenue decreased $920 million, or 5.8 percent, on a volume decline of 7.7 billion pieces, or 11.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. Total operating expenses were $85.4 billion for the year, an increase of $5.8 billion, or 7.3 percent, compared to the same period last year.

A summary of results for the third quarter ended October 31, 2020 as compared to the third quarter ended November 2, 2019: -Net sales of $820 million, down 5% as compared to last year, reflecting the adverse impact of COVID-19 on store sales. -Digital net sales increased 43% to $382 million reflecting robust growth in every month of the quarter. -Gross profit rate improved 390 basis points to 64.0% on higher average unit retail and lower average unit cost, benefiting from inventory shrink favorability of approximately 100 basis points and changes in foreign currency exchange rates of approximately 90 basis points. -Operating income improved to $59 million and $65 million on a reported and adjusted non-GAAP basis, respectively, as compared to $14 million and $25 million last year, on a reported and adjusted non-GAAP basis, respectively. -Generated positive operating cash flows of $63 million during the third quarter ended October 31, 2020, ending the quarter with $813 million of cash and equivalents and liquidity of approximately $1.2 billion.