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Interview: Non-Forever Stamps Will Last
One problem is the post office has to add nearly two million new delivery points _ homes and business _ each year, a growing expense even as the volume of first-class mail shrinks.
Revenue per delivery point totaled $433 last year, down from $469 in 2000, Alan Kessler, vice chairman of the agency's governing board, told Congress on Thursday.
  In this Monday, Jan. 27, 2003, file photo, John E. Potter, U.S. Postmaster-General and CEO of the United States postal service, speaks in a panel session on the quality of leadership by today's CEOs during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum WEF, in Davos, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone, Eddy Risch) (Eddy Risch - Associated Press) 
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On other topics, Potter said:
_"We've got a big surge coming" with delivery of 1.2 million copies of the new Harry Potter book. The post office has been working with the publisher and printers to make that effort go smoothly.
_A new barcode will enable the agency to track the movement of every piece of mail. The new codes will be mandatory for commercial users starting in January 2009, Potter said, although the general public will not be required to use them.
The mail is scanned regularly as it travels, and people "will be able to track their mail, by specific piece of mail, as it moves through our system," Potter said. For the Postal Service, he said, "It will allow us to adjust our systems to improve the service that people are receiving."
Though individuals won't be required to use the new code, they will be able to do so using the agency's Internet page.
_The agency is looking forward to becoming more competitive in package delivery, which now makes up about 10 percent of its business.
The independent Postal Regulatory Commission is working on new rules to speed up the agency's development of negotiated service agreements that can provide discounts to mailers.
In the past, a rigid rate structure has limited the ability to compete with other package delivery businesses.
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On the Net:
U.S. Postal Service: http:/
