1.   During the heavy mailing seasons each fall and winter, the service makes substantial profits that are whittled away when mail volume drops in the spring and summer.

2.   Indeed, regular mail volume has declined because of the Internet.

3.   Runyon has repeatedly defended his downsizing measures, saying a surge in mail volume created much of the mayhem.

4.   So has overall mail volume, fueled by direct marketing and a flurry of bills generated from Internet commerce.

5.   The combination of a recessionary economy and bioterrorism has caused mail volume to plummet.

6.   The General Accounting Office noted that even in Postal Service functions that had been highly automated, work hours and operating costs increased faster than mail volume.

7.   The national decline in mail volume was precipitated by the weak economy but worsened by the terrorist attacks.

8.   The Postal Service also reported its first yearly drop in mail volume in a decade, pointing to the recession and growing competition from electronic billing.

9.   The recession, albeit a minor one, led to a decline in mail volume, and the anthrax scare also hit hard.

10.   The service expects the trend to accelerate, leading to substantial declines in first-class mail volume and huge losses in revenue.