The Washington Post recently editorialized that the U.S. Postal Service must take radical steps to survive in the 21st Century.
Nobody disputes this. The Post notes Europe’s increasingly privatized mail services, which it says are “leaner and greener than the USPS.” Okaaay. The paper also asserts that the USPS’s antiquated business model, heavy unionization and Congressional interference impede it from running like a real business. This misses several important points.
First, the Post didn’t mention that every year the USPS must pre-pay $5.8 billion to cover the health care costs of retired employees. That would be a burden on any business. Then, there’s the question of universal service. Would a semi- or fully privatized USPS be very inclined to deliver to remote locations, say Wasilla, AK? Is the USPS really just a business and not probably the oldest and most trusted government service? True, the USPS could clean up its act in many ways. DMA chairman Kelly Browning hinted recently that the USPS’s summer sale on standard mail rates was the product of two years of negotiations. Why did this take so long? After all, direct mailers are its largest group of customers.
Network
