Paul N. Carlin

Paul Nestor Carlin (born August 25, 1931) is an American businessman and former United States Postal Service official. He served as the United States Postmaster General from January 1, 1985 to January 7, 1986.

Carlin was born in San Diego. Carlin received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wyoming in 1954, where he was an all-star track athlete. He served in the United States Army for two years and taught athletics at the University of Baghdad in Iraq as a Fulbright professor.

During the 1960s, he was employed by the National Association of Counties where he served as assistant director of federal affairs, a position in which he lobbied Congress. He later held a similar position, director of federal and congressional relations, with the National School Boards Association, until 1968. He then joined the National Audio-Visual Association as vice president and educational director.

Carlin went into government as President Richard Nixon's liaison with Congress on postal matters. He went on to become a specialist in labor and employee relations at United States Postal Service headquarters, chief of the eastern postal region, and chief of the central postal region.

On November 14, 1984, the board of governors of the Postal Service selected Carlin from among 35 candidates to become the Postmaster General effective on January 1, 1985.

The Postal Service faced a deficit during Carlin's first fiscal year in office. Between October 1, 1984 (the start of the fiscal year) and July 1, 1985, the Postal Service had a $385 million deficit, due in part to an unanticipated increase in mail volume and changes in airline routes and schedules which required the Postal Service to renegotiate contracts with airlines and reschedule operations. In order to reduce the deficit, Carlin imposed a 3.5% pay cut on 35 top postal executives (including himself), and delayed a scheduled 3.2% pay increase for 714 other managers. Other cost-cutting measures taken by the Postal Service during his administration included cutting back on overtime hours worked and delaying or canceling the issuance of certain stamps. The Postal Service's deficit for the fiscal year as a whole came to $251.5 million.

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