The U.S. Postal Service was expected to announce its third straight quarter of losses for fiscal 2013 on Monday — but those losses are declining, and that has agency and postal labor officials cautiously optimistic.
The $740 million loss in the agency's financial report is better than the $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion drops for the first two quarters, respectively, and means the Postal Service's troubled finances are trending in the right direction.
The development might help push a divided Congress to reach a deal on overhauling the Postal Service, some say. Losses for the agency this year have reached nearly $4 billion, a dramatic improvement after a loss of nearly $16 billion in 2012.