Postal Service needs overhaul to avoid cutbacks, postmaster says

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service needs a major overhaul to avoid threats to the universal mail service Americans expect, Postmaster General William Henderson said Wednesday.

The Postal Service, battered by slowing business and billions in projected losses, has recently announced an array of cutbacks and is exploring the possibility of ending Saturday mail delivery and closing some post offices and facilities.

Henderson, called to testify before the House Government Reform Committee, said in prepared remarks that during the holiday season first- class mail volume dropped for the first time in years and Priority Mail is also in decline.

"A seriously weakening postal system would find it more and more difficult to carry the full load of universal service," Henderson said. "Can we reasonably expect at this point that the Postal Service will regain the steady progress it made in the 1990s without a major modernizing reform? I doubt it."

Henderson said the laws regulating how the post office operates must be changed to provide more flexibility in setting rates and services to contend with rising costs.