Fixing The Postal Service

There has been a lot of talk over at least a year about the need to "fix" the postal service by reducing service, closing post offices, and other measures.  Now, those changes appear closer to fruition as they have been formally proposed.

The Washington Post has conducted a survey which reports that 71% of Americans don't care a bit if the USPS stops delivery on Saturdays.  This is a little surprising to me, but the reality is that most people younger than I don't rely on the Postal Service these days.  Still, it's a reduction in service, and the mail is no different from your local public transportation:  reduce schedules, cut routes, and you drive away even more customers.  It's particularly egregious that stopping delivery on Saturday is being suggested; we have so many of those ridiculous Monday holidays now that approximately every third week, on average, anything mailed on a Friday now cannot be delivered until Tuesday - four days later!   

Less surprising was the Post poll's other result, that 64% of respondents oppose closing post offices.  This, to me, is a more logical move; I've driven some of those back roads in Pennsylvania, for example, where you can pass a small, underutilized post office every couple of miles.  There are real and permanent savings to be had here, and physical post offices are less and less necessary when you can order stamps by mail, or mail a package right from your own computer, leaving it on your doorstep for the letter carrier to take.

Nevertheless, I say, if the USPS is to be a quasi-private business, Congress should approve these changes as rapidly as possibly and let them get on with what obviously are necessary efforts to stanch the flow of red ink.   After all, the "competition" (private carriers) mostly don't deliver on Saturday - but they also don't take off those quasi-holidays like Columbus Day.  If we drop Saturdays, the USPS ought to give up those less meaningful Monday holidays.  And, Congress will need to show some moxie and resist going just partway -- stand up to those who oppose closing any post offices, for example.

In the end, I don't have any illusions that all the suggested cost-cutting measures combined will save the USPS as we know it.  What's needed here is a new business model, with much more radical solutions; more than just cutting costs.

Comments

[Mark Delman]

Hi Steve: I think the reason that people want to keep post offices open, is that in small communities, they are a kind of meeting place. So the least efficient post offices from the perspective of actually moving the mail, are the ones that may be most cherished by their local communities. Having said that, I agree the post office needs to do cost cutting to survive. Last year, the volume of First Class mail declined. I believe this may be the first time in US history this has happened. A combination of the recession, higher postal prices and people moving more communication (personal and billing) to e-mail.

[Jhawk23]

Mark,
That's a good point re the value of the post offices in small communities, one I hadn't thought of. Also, many people and businesses receive their mail via post office boxes in some of those small post offices. So there are certainly lots of good reasons why communities defend their local post offices.