Incoming postmaster general promises cuts

About 7,500 positions from the U.S. Postal Service's administrative personnel could be cut through attrition, the new postmaster general announced on the day he took his oath of office.

On Friday, Patrick R. Donahoe also said he plans to turn most of his attention to wooing new customers instead of worrying about congressional debate on the future of U.S. mail delivery.

"I need to get out and sell this business," Donahoe said moments before taking office. He was officially installed before 400 of the mail agency's employees at its L'Enfant Plaza headquarters. "For years, I think we've focused too much on legislative things. The legislative issues need to be taken care of, that's part of my focus, but I've got to get 580,000 people in this organization selling mail."

Donahoe officially took over as the nation's 73rd postmaster general on Dec. 3, but delayed his formal installment until after the holiday season.

The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended in September and continues to suffer from plummeting mail volume.

Letter carriers delivered about 175 billion pieces of mail in 2009, down from a peak of 213 billion in 2006.

"We're not going to be wringing our hands about any of these trends, we're going to be adapting aggressively and figuring out how to play an indispensable role," Donahoe told the crowd. "We're working very hard in the way we manage our business and the way we approach this marketplace."

Donahoe's plans include a reorganization of executive ranks that he unveiled last week, closing up to 10 district offices nationwide and cutting about 7,500 positions through attrition as eligible workers retire. Early retirement packages may be offered to other workers, but he admitted that the nation's current economic climate makes it more difficult to entice workers to leave.

Donahoe has spent his entire professional career as a postal worker, serving as an entry-level night shift worker, mid-level executive and most recently as deputy to his predecessor, John E. Potter. It all began when his uncle encouraged him to take the postal entrance exam.

"I took the test, got a good score, got hired and the pay was good, it was $4.76 an hour," he said. "I went in, figured I stay for a few years, get a regular job. And 35 years later I'm still here."