WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Postal Service, losing customers and money yearly, is getting a new postmaster general who says the USPS is still a "viable part of America."
Patrick Donahoe, the service's deputy postmaster general and chief operating officer, will take over from the retiring John E. Potter, who has held the position since 2001 and is stepping down Dec. 3, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Sunday.
Donahoe, a Pittsburgh native, takes over a service that lost $8.5 billion in the most recent fiscal year and could run out of cash next year without help from Congress, the newspaper said.
Donahoe says he is confident the USPS can adapt to changing marketplace conditions.
"The Postal Service is still a very viable part of America, from an economic and social standpoint," he said. "We're still going into every house and business, six days a week."
Donahoe, who will be the 73rd postmaster general, has been with the Postal Service his entire career.
That gives him the ability to take a long view on the agency, he says, what it's doing right and what it can do better.
"We need to be leaner, smarter, faster," he said. "I feel it's my responsibility to make this an ongoing, viable organization."
