By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended the Postal Service's 10-year restructuring plan in the face of harsh criticism from lawmakers as the agency reported a second quarter net loss of $1.5 billion.
The loss for the three months ending March 31 was down from a net loss of $2.5 billion a year ago. First-class mail fell by 2.2%.
A bipartisan group of 26 senators on Wednesday urged USPS to pause planned further consolidation to its processing and delivery network, warning it could slow mail deliveries.
DeJoy argued the restructuring plan is urgently needed but acknowledged there have been some delivery issues USPS is working to address.
"This massive and complex evolution includes correcting for decades of haphazard decision making and neglect to our physical infrastructure network," DeJoy said, adding USPS knows it must make improvements "within the time limits we have for survival."
USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion yearly net loss as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968.
He said the Postal Service has cut forecasted losses from $160 billion over 10 years to $65 billion and said without action, USPS was on course to lose over $250 billion over 24 years.
He acknowledged USPS is "also experiencing failures. Why wouldn't we be given the magnitude of ,the transformation we are undertaking and the devastating trajectory we're trying to change."
Senators this week led by Gary Peters urged a halt until the impacts are studied by the Postal Regulatory Commission. There has been mounting anger in Congress about changes that USPS has said are necessary to cut projected financial losses.
Postal Governor Ronald Stroman on Thursday said USPS needs "to slow down network changes until service has gotten close to our service targets for 2024." He said that "would minimize the impact of any service declines on the entire network."Last month, the Postal Service said it wants to raise the price of a first-class mail stamp to 73 cents from 68 cents, effective July 14, the latest in a series of price hikes.