But many officials believe the armed services face a deeper problem and one more difficult to overcome.

In some ways, services that rate mutual funds face similar problems.

What cannot be denied is that Doncaster's struggling services face a troubled future.

And at $21.95 a month, its main service faces new competition from several fast-growing free Internet services.

The postal service, banks and media organizations will also face walkouts.

The service may face an uphill battle, however, as few pay services for digital music delivery have done well.

Even under the most optimistic outcome of that struggle, public services face severe cutbacks.

The service faces a $2 billion to $3 billion loss this fiscal year, officials said.

The report highlights this point and focuses attention on the problems this service is facing.

But let us not forget that traditional post is falling off and the postal services are increasingly facing competition from new technologies.