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The U.S. Postal Service said it lost $3.1 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended in June, compared with a $3.5 billion loss a year ago.

The USPS handled 39.8 billion pieces of mail in the quarter, down 1.1 billion from a year ago.

For the fiscal year, the Post Office has lost $5.7 billion, compared with $5.4 billion a year ago, and it said it could be forced to default on payments due to the federal government at the end of its fiscal year in September.