Prac-ti-cal  adj [from Greek praktikos to pass through] 1:  capable of being put to use 2:  there's no easier way to send it than the United States Postal Service, right from your home or business to any other home or business — anywhere.

In this section we discuss our finances, including the successes we had, the challenges we face, our plan for the future and the risks that lie ahead. If we were a private company seeking profit and return to shareholders, the financial analysis of our results would focus primarily on our bottom line, which this year is a loss of $676 million. However, we are an “independent establishment of the executive branch” wholly owned by the U.S. government and its citizens. Our financial goal is to cover costs through revenue generated by the services we provide. This year we responded to significant financial challenges, lower than expected revenue and increased personnel and benefits costs. While our universal delivery network grew an additional 1.8 million new addresses, we reduced career employment by 23,000 and achieved a level of productivity that averted what could have been a much greater loss.

Our universal service mandate means that we deliver to everyone, everywhere, and we do not charge whenever we add a new delivery address, process a change of address or forward mail to a new address. This growing demand means we have to invest in new facility space and mail processing equipment each year. Not making these investments each year can, over time, affect our ability to fulfill our universal service mandate. Yet as personnel and other expenses increase and the need for investment in new and replacement facilities continues to place demands on our budget, we can adjust our rates only after completing a rate process that can take up to 18 months. Thus, while the statute under which we operate requires us to provide universal service, it does not give us the ability to quickly change our rates whenever our costs go up or down. Nevertheless, the Postal Service improved service, reduced costs and debt and minimized the financial loss in 2002.