Post Office should Privatize
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 4:06PM ;)
It's no secret that the Post Office is in deep financial trouble. Based on its current operating system, it is faced with a staggering $238 billion budget deficit by 2020. Even President Obama has quipped "I mean, if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems." The solution from America's Postmaster General John Potter? Skipping Saturday mail delivery. That's right. The government solution to a poorly run organization is to reduce services. This "solution" was taken even further when consulting firm McKinsey & Co. recommended that service be reduced to as few as three days a week.
So the solution to hemorraging money is to reduce services huh? Brilliant. Obviously Congress won't be reducing the budget for the Post Office so we as consumers will just continue to blissfully pay full price for watered down delivery. If my lawn care company was overbudget I'm sure they would reduce the number of treatments they provide and I would be fine continuing to pay them full price. I'd hate for them to have to look into streamlining their business with reduction in personnel, pay cuts, restructuring, applying lean principles, etc... You know, all the things a private business would do because it faces competition so it actually cares about what its customers think.
Let's go with the President's suggestion. (Thanks President Obama!) Privatize the postal service. Private companies, driven by profit, have incentive to run tighter ships and are (relatively) free from bureaucratic government interference. If "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine" then let UPS and FedEx handle the mail. Not exactly rocket surgery. Even the Europeans are now either privatizing or opening up competition to their formerly monopolistic mail providers. Unfortunately this administration continues to move the United States towards the European Socialist model at the same time the Europeans have abandoned their model and started moving more towards the free market. We'll just have to wait for another administration for the bold step of privatization.
Reader Comments (3)
"The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the "Post Office", "Postal Service", or "U.S. Mail".
Though postal services have existed on American territory before the United States' establishment, the USPS's first incarnation was established by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1775 by decree of the Second Continental Congress. The Post Office Department was created from this in 1792 as part of the United States Cabinet, its current form in 1983 under the Postal Reorganization Act.
Since its reorganization into an independent organization, the USPS has become self-sufficient and has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s. The decline of mail volume due to increased usage of e-mail has forced the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to maintain this financial balance.[3]
Employing 656,000 workers and 260,000 vehicles, it is the second-largest civilian employer in the United States (after Wal-Mart) and the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. Conversely, it has exclusive access to U.S. mail boxes and non-urgent letters. It receives competition from email and package delivery services."
From wikipedia.org
Meanwhile, remember: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
The post-master general recently stated that the post office is the only government institution that doesn't receive federal money, however, they are so deep in debt, I wonder who their creditor is.
From a Constitutionalist, the OP is an Epic Fail.
I don't see why you think cutting Saturday delivery isn't a legitimate means to reducing expenditures. There will still be the same VOLUME of mail, but with up to a potential 18% reduction in workforce.