Postal Raises

From USA Today:
"Postal salaries go up as workforce shrinks"

The payroll for postmasters and other salaried employees of the U.S. Postal Service rose $113.2 million in the last year even as the struggling mail system trimmed its staff by 3,100 positions, a NJ Press Media examination of pay records found. The base pay for 388,823 salaried employees was $22.5 billion as of January, up from $22.4 billion in April 2013. The number of full-time employees dropped by 3,175 during the same time, according to the review of postal service payrolls. The number of employees paid by the hour, which includes part-timers, rose by 774 to 154,992 wage earners. Excluded from the payroll data are bonuses and other performance awards. The Postal Service and an appeals panel rejected the Asbury Park Press' Freedom of Information Act request for the data, saying bonuses are confidential incentives that would impede its operations if private competitors, such as Federal Express and UPS, knew what was paid to top performers. The Postal Service has been in financial straits for years. It lost $5 billion in fiscal year 2013 and a record $15.9 billion in 2012, the service reported. Growing competition from private carriers, a decline in the use of mail because of the Internet, and a growing increase in heath care costs for its retirees have been the major causes of losses for the independent government agency. Its overall operating expenses, including payroll, was $72.1 billion last year, down from $81 billion in 2012, according to the service's budget.

^ I think I know why the USPS is loosing billions of dollars and it isn't solely due to lower mail volume. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/postal-salaries-go-up-as-workforce-shrinks/5405411/