To the President, members of Congress, postal employees and the American people.

This is a time unlike any other — both for the Postal Service and for America. It is a time that calls for strength, courage and the determination to move ahead. Above all, it calls for unity.

Each of us in the Postal Service is working to deliver secure, affordable and universal mail service to the people of America. That is our job and we will continue to do it.

Yes, we face some challenges. A changing economy and rising labor costs have driven up our costs while they have reduced our revenue. At the same time, our fixed costs have risen as we expanded to serve more than 1.7 million new addresses last year. A strong and focused response has helped us to reduce expenses, while maintaining consistently high service performance.

The Postal Service has been a reliable, trusted provider of communications for more than two centuries. It is a basic and fundamental service provided to the people of America by their government. It helps keep America in touch, and it is the hub of a $900 billion mailing industry. We are working to keep this critical national asset strong and vibrant, today and far into the future.

From a business perspective, we are pursuing joint strategies of increasing revenue and managing costs. To help us accomplish these goals, we are completing an organizational restructuring that better aligns our operations, marketing and sales activities. These changes are also bringing greater efficiency to our administrative and support functions.

Our combined efforts have resulted in the removal of more than $900 million in costs from our system. We consider that quite an accomplishment.

Looking to the future, we are completing a comprehensive transformation plan that will help to position the Postal Service for continued success in an increasingly dynamic market. We are taking a three-step approach to this effort.

The first is the implementation of significant and positive actions to drive efficiency and performance within our existing legislative framework. The second is seeking modest legislative change that would bring modern management tools to postal operations. The third is identifying options for long-term comprehensive changes that will define and support the role of the Postal Service well into the 21st century. Development of this plan has been among our highest priorities.

We cannot say often enough how proud we are of the 800,000 men and women of the United States Postal Service. Through unprecedented adversity, including acts of terrorism that resulted in the loss of two dedicated employees, they have continued to do their jobs and proudly uphold the principles of universal delivery service. We are grateful to every postal employee, in every city, and in every town, for understanding the importance of our work in service to the American people. On behalf of the United States Postal Service, we thank them for helping us to stand united with the nation we serve.

Sincerely,

John E. Potter
Postmaster General and CEO

Robert F. Rider
Chairman, Board of Governors