math in the news: 9/5/11
TRANSCRIPT
U.S. Postal Service
• The U.S. Postal
service, originally
called the Post
Office Department,
was formed in 1775.
The history of U.S.
Postal Service is, in
many way, the
history of the U.S.
itself.
That a postmaster General be appointed
for the United Colonies, who shall hold his
office at Philadelphia, and shall be allowed a
salary of 1000 dollars per an: for himself,
and 340 dollars per an: for a secretary and
Comptroller, with power to appoint such,
and so many deputies as to him may seem
proper and necessary.
That a line of posts be appointed under
the direction of the Postmaster general, from
Falmouth in New England to Savannah in
Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall
think fit
U.S. Postal Service
• As the U.S.
population has
grown, so has the
amount of mail
generated.
• This table
summarizes the
amount of mail
handled over the last
century.
U.S. Postal Service
• However, if we
focus in on the
last thirty years,
you can see
some flattening
in the graph
since 2000.
U.S. Postal Service
• This table shows
the Operating
Revenue and
Operating
Expenses over
the last century.
U.S. Postal Service
• Here is the graph
of the data.
• Note that
throughout the
last century,
income barely
outpaced
expenses.
U.S. Postal Service• To see this more
clearly, here is a
graph of the
difference
between
Revenue and
Expenses for the
same period.
• Note that over
the past 30
years, the U.S.
Postal Service
has shown a
profit, though a
declining one.
U.S. Postal Service• Since the 1990’s,
when e-mail use
began to
dramatically
increase, the
U.S. Postal
Service has been
profitable, unlike
its prior history.
But this era of
profitability has
been temporary.
U.S. Postal Service• Notice that since
2006, expenses
have overtaken
expenses at an
accelerating
pace.
• Not only that,
revenue has
continued to slip.
U.S. Postal Service• Why has revenue
declined?
– The
overwhelming
reason is
because of a
dramatic drop in
the number of
pieces of mail
sent. During a
five-year period
over 41 billion
fewer pieces of
mail were sent
out!
U.S. Postal Service• Think of reasons
why there would
have been such
a huge drop in
mail during this
period.
U.S. Postal Service• During the same
period, expenses
dramatically
increased, even
while revenue
was declining.
U.S. Postal Service• One way that the
U.S. Postal
Service has tried
to control costs is
to reduce the
number of
employees. Note
the dramatic drop
in employees
during this 5-
year period.