America's dying postal service: By the numbers

The U.S. Postal Service is facing a whole host of problems: The rise of electronic communications, a corresponding decline in lucrative mass-market "junk" mail, federal regulators who won't allow it to cut Saturday services or raise stamp prices, and Congressional opposition to making other cuts. While the independent agency confronts federal oversight, it's also planning to close thousands of locations, mostly in rural and sparsely populated suburban areas. (Watch a local report about closing Post Offices.) Here's a look at USPS cost-cutting, by the numbers:

532,800

Number of U.S. Postal Service employees

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32,000

Approximate number of USPS locations

16,000

Approximate number of USPS locations currently operating at a deficit

2,000

Approximate number of branches and stations the USPS wants to close this year

491

USPS locations to be closed by the end of June

408

Number of those locations that are already out of service, in some cases due to fires and weather damage

$500 million

Amount those closures would save over two years, according to USPS officials

$8.5 billion

USPS losses in fiscal 2010

$7 billion

Expected losses in the current fiscal year

$12 billion

Amount the USPS owes the U.S. Treasury

50

Percentage of the Postal Service's current infrastructure it plans to cut by 2020

64

Percentage of Americans who opposed closing USPS branches, in a March 2010 poll

213 billion

Pieces of mail the USPS delivered in 2006, its peak year

171 billion

Pieces of mail delivered in 2010

150 billion

Pieces of mail it expects to deliver a decade from now

19

Percentage of Postal Service revenue generated online

Sources: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, Cato Institute