No Time for Dithering

Between now and the commencement of the next Congress, the U.S. Postal Service will have its work cut out for itself regarding postal legislative reform.

While H.R. 22 got only as far as subcommittee markup in the 105th Congress, it will serve as a benchmark for work that undoubtedly will be undertaken in the 106th. There is still hemming and hawing in the mailing community about whether H.R. 22 serves as a sufficient prescription for the postal service’s ills, but most parties have responded favorably to this effort to cobble together a legislative proposal that might have a chance to win congressional passage.

The big question that remains is: How will the USPS react to this latest attempt by House postal subcommittee chairman John McHugh (R-NY) to save it from the ravages of electronic diversion and the archproponents of privatization?

Unlike previous forays into the legislative arena, this time postal management has tried to sound a positive note. In a letter to McHugh, Postmaster General William Henderson complimented him on various aspects of his revised bill. The PMG did note, however, that the postal service wanted to offer some suggestions for the chairman to consider before action on the bill gets under way in the next Congress.

Exactly what does management have in mind? At this point, unfortunately, no one really knows.

Among the many audiences to which the USPS must play, the toughest, undoubtedly, is its Board of Governors. It’s no secret the governors are far from having a single mind about postal legislative reform.

Some don’t believe any change in the postal service’s legislative charter is needed at all.

Some feel “reform” would be acceptable only if the USPS were unfettered from most of today’s regulation.

Some object to any change in the roles presently assigned the governing board and the Postal Rate Commission.

Some think the idea of a private law corporation is nothing more than a ruse by competitors to hamstring the USPS from developing any new business. Fortunately, there are some who recognize that without legislative reform, the postal service’s days as chief steward of the postal system as we know it are numbered.

Alarmists? It wasn’t so long ago when those who predicted a significant diversion of key segments of the USPS’ mail business to electronic alternatives were considered alarmists out of touch with reality. The maintainers of the status quo took great comfort in noting radio survived despite the advent of television, and neither the telegraph nor the telephone had diminished mail volume or revenue. It was unrealistic, the skeptics argued, to expect this newfangled thing called the Internet could ever do it either.

The times have changed. Now postal executives take it as a given that hard-copy message delivery will be significantly and adversely affected by electronic methods for communicating and doing business. Why anyone on the Board of Governors might doubt that, and feel compelled to do something to change the current state of affairs, is somewhat of a mystery.

The path for the postal service’s future has been well laid. If the dynamics driving its business remain unchanged, the USPS will lapse into a financial crisis once the economy goes south. With some positive legislative and regulatory change, however, the postal service might have a chance of surviving-and even thriving-in the midst of changing times.

One of the blocks over which many legislative reform critics stumble is the belief that unless a bill such as H.R. 22 provides the perfect solution for the postal service’s ills, enactment isn’t worth the trouble. Of course, if Congress felt that way about Social Security back in 1986, the system already would have imploded.

By anyone’s account, H.R. 22 is not a cure-all. But it’s also much more than a Band-Aid.

Like the Social Security reform of 1986, it promises to be enough of a remedy to allow the postal service to function sufficiently to enable Congress and its customers to determine if the reformed system needs fine-tuning or a radical overhaul.

The governors have little time for dithering. They have to help the USPS get a clear picture of what it needs to do in the years ahead, and they have to help sell this picture to the people who have the postal service’s destiny in the palms of their hands.