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First Woman Ever to Head the U.S. Postal Service as Postmaster General

Megan Brennan, Postmaster General

The United States Postal Service just announced that a new Postmaster will soon be taking over the reigns of the organization. The organization's current COO, Megan Brennan, will soon take a big step into the position of Postmaster General. She will become the first woman to head the postal service, succeeding Patrick Donahoe who is retiring.

Tough job ahead

Brennan's appointment comes at a critical time when the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced a loss of $5.5 billion. In fact, USPS has lost money the past eight years. Her role will be to cut costs and manage half a million postal employees across the country. Her years of experience as second in command to the now outgoing Postmaster General has earned her the respect and confidence of others in succeeding in her new position.

Rising costs

USPS reports that their number one problem is the rising costs on shipping periodicals. It will be a tough balancing act for Brennan to cut costs here but continue to provide good service. In addition, the organization was hit with a government requirement to pre-fund health care benefits for retirees to the tune of $5.7 billion.

All eyes will likely be focused on Brennan beginning in February, 2015, when current Postmaster General Donahoe retires. Regarding Brennan, Donahoe said that she has done an excellent job running operations and that she will be an asset as the agency’s leader. “She’ll go down, I’m sure, as the greatest postmaster general ever.”

For more information, visit http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-postal-service-names-first-female-postmaster-general-1415977837