The Postal Service has said it needs to downsize drastically or it will be unable to deliver mail by the end of next summer.It is losing billions of dollars each quarter because its core business of delivering mail has eroded as consumers have turned to email and paying bills online.While awaiting a congressional overhaul of its business structure, the Postal Service is exploring cost-cutting options of its own, including a review of about 3,700 post offices for possible closure.But a flood of appeals threatens to slow down that plan.”We are getting a much heavier number of appeals now,” Stephen Sharfman, general counsel for the Postal Regulatory Commission said at a public meeting on Wednesday.Residents are opposing the shuttering of their local post office for fear it would add to already high unemployment rates, curtail their mail services, or tarnish a long-standing American tradition.Members of the commission said it had received 967 letters and emails last month from people concerned about the possible closure of their individual post offices or branches.Since July, the commission has received 90 formal appeals, which trigger a time-consuming process of reviewing how the Postal Service makes its decisions.The mail carrier must show it considered the impact of a post office closing on the community it serves and whether a closing detracts from its mandate to provide mail service to all communities in the country. The commission decides whether or not to uphold the Postal Service’s decision.Many of the postal centers under review are in rural areas, and some lawmakers have spoken up to protect their post offices in their states.Last week Senator Max Baucus of Montana issued a statement disputing closure notices in his state on the grounds the Postal Service had not given community members a full week to comment, as is required.Public resistance complicates efforts by legislators searching for ways to save the troubled mail carrier.The Postal Service has until November 18 to make a $5.5 billion payment to a retiree healthcare fund originally due at the end of September, which it has said it will not be able to pay.It also faces the risk of bumping up against $15 billion government borrowing limit.The Postal Service has called on Congress to provide relief by allowing the agency to end Saturday mail delivery, raise rates and restructure its labor cost obligations.Ann Fisher, director of the Postal Regulatory Commission’s office of public affairs, said she expected lawmakers to agree on a plan for the Postal Service in time to submit it to a congressional panel charged with cutting the U.S. deficit.The 12-member panel needs to come up with a deficit plan and vote on it by November 23.On Thursday, members of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee are to debate a bill by Republican Darrell Issa, which is seen as a leading piece of legislation to reform the Postal Service.
* Slovakia’s vote for EFSF expansion in focus* U.S. futures point to lower start on Wall StreetBy Anirban NagLONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - European shares and the euro fell
on Tuesday, with investors increasingly edgy ahead of a finely
balanced vote by Slovakia’s parliament to ratify an expansion of
the euro zone’s rescue fund.Slovakia is the last of the 17-member bloc yet to vote on a
deal agreed by the region’s leaders in July to boost the size
and powers of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).All 17 euro zone states must ratify the EFSF expansion for
it to come into effect. Three of the four parties in the
centre-right government in Slovakia want to ratify it but a
fourth has threatened to vote against it.Opposition parties could move to back the fund in a
follow-up vote to any rejection, but even an initial failure by
parliament to pass it would rattle markets and could bring an
end to a rally in riskier assets like stocks, commodities and
higher-yielding currencies.The vote was expected to take place between 1400 GMT and
1500 GMT.”The Slovakian vote is on a knife-edge. It could go either
way. But (if they vote against) they can vote again, to get —
from the European perspective — the right result. The market is
thinking that they are holding out, and playing hardball,” said
Jeremy Batstone-Carr, strategist at Charles Stanley.The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares
was down 0.6 percent at 957.95 points, after rising 1.7 percent
on Monday. Stocks were lower across the board, with the STOXX
Europe 600 Basic Resources Index among the biggest
losers.U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower start on Wall Street.
The S&P futures was down 0.65 percent, while the Dow
Jones industrial average futures was 0.6 percent lower.
The U.S. markets were likely to take direction from some major
earnings announcements later.Earlier, Asian shares rose after China moved to support its
stock market by buying shares of major banks.The MSCI’s All-Country World index was
slightly lower and is still around 18 percent below a May high
for the year.It climbed back above the 20 percent loss level — the
rule-of-thumb definition for a bear market — on Monday after a
pledge from German and French leaders to come up with a plan by
the end of the month to tackle Greece’s confidence-sapping debt
woes and recapitalise European banks.EURO RUNS OUT STEAMThe heart of market concerns in the euro zone crisis now is
that sovereign debt losses will drive another round of financial
sector turmoil to rival that in 2008. Banking stocks were down
another 0.7 percent on Tuesday.Speaking in his capacity as head of the European Systemic
Risk Board (ESRB), European Central Bank President Jean-Claude
Trichet said the debt crisis had become systemic and that a
recapitalisation of banks should happen quickly.The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.3587, after
surging nearly 2 percent to just below $1.37 on Monday. The
single currency also eased against the safe-haven yen to around
104.13 .The dollar rose 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies
. The greenback and the yen usually gain during times of
financial stress.German Bunds edged higher with the December Bund futures
14 ticks higher at 134.76.Spot gold was down 1 percent at $1,659.09 an ounce,
having risen more than 2 percent on Monday.Brent crude oil fell more than $1 to below $108 per barrel
with traders closely watching oil exports from Kuwait, one of
OPEC’s top five producers, after a strike by a customs union
shut ports and halted vessel traffic on Monday.
