How Should The U.S. Postal Service Be Saved?
By Shaun Kenney | Thursday, January 26th, 2012 | Politics, VirginiaBecause it really is a question, not of “if” but on how. The Atlantic muses on the fate of the USPS:
Admittedly, some of you might have missed this anniversary as you watched New England and New York advance to the Super Bowl. What you probably haven’t missed is all the recent talk about the demise of the U.S. postal service. The post office has recently announced its desire to close thousands of local post offices, lay off loads of workers, and end Saturday service, en route to cutting operating costs by around $20 billion before 2015.
The moves come in response to staggering losses suffered the past few years, due in part to the rise of electronic communication and an onerous 2006 law that requires it to pay billions a year into its pension trust. Whatever their source, the numbers aren’t pretty.
The article opines on the possibility of the USPS becoming what they once were — rural hotspots and general stores of the 19th century morphing into Internet hotspots, coffee houses, and open public squares of the 21st century.
The other alternative? Turn the USPS into an Employee Stock Owned Plan (ESOP) where the employees “own” the post office.
The alternative proposed otherwise is to continue allowing it to be an appendage of the federal government. But somehow, I can see post offices going back to country stores (boy, would I have killed to have the Post Office attached to the old store here in Kents Store, VA like it used to be). Why not return to that era? Why do post offices have to conjure up images of DMV lines?
Of course, that could conjure up the old images of when the USPS was a patronage position — the political party in power would dole out the post office jobs to their friends. Still, offering small businesses the opportunity to be the post office has its pros and cons. Small businesses and bistros? I can see that. An unholy alliance between Starbucks and the USPS? Ehh… not a fan…
A little free enterprise could go a long way towards revitalizing the USPS. How that occurs and when (and under what conditions) is a question for better minds… but for small rural communities, it’s a conversation worth having.
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About the author
Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
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5 Responses to "How Should The U.S. Postal Service Be Saved?"
Excellent topic, sean. The USPS is the original GSE–Government Sponsored Enterprise. And it still is. But to your larger question–how can it be saved? If we take the “G” out of the “GSE” it will either flounder and die or reinvigorate itself by the free market.
But, like interstate highways, do we wish to continue subsidizing it for the great good?
Frankly, if the entire Presidential debate would center on this one issue, we would learn volumes of how the candidates view the role of the government and its citizens.
Fascinating topic. I hope other will chime in.
I still think the Post Office should go to every other business day home delivery. This would result in one half your snail mail arriving one day later then it otherwise would have. The savings would be significant in that it would eliminate the need for half the manpower and half the vehicles doing daily home delivery.
End the USPS. Aint gonna happen though.. How else will politicians distrubute their propaganda?
Well, every-other-day delivery would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but I’m not sure it would cut staff and it would certainly mess with people like me who get paid the old fashioned way by USPS from clients who all live far away from here (Virginia.) Yes, there is pay pal and yes there is wiring, but nearly all of my clients like to write that check, stick it an envelope and mail it. (Now if the local USPS could stop delivering welfare checks to my address and stop delivering my pay checks to the welfare people, that would be nice.)
Having said that, I can definitely think of BUNCHES of little podinky post offices within 3 miles of my house that have no reason to exist. Now THAT would save an enormous amount of money. I can think three off the top of my head, and this is just in one little rural county on the Northern Neck alone.
Craig,
How can you say it would not reduce staff to go to every other day delivery? You would only need half the number of postal carriers, both urban and rural, going from mailbox to mailbox.
You would still receive your payments via snail mail, however half of them might arrive one day later. If you and your clients are going to insist on doing things the old fashioned way, then you would just have to deal with the minor delay. If the timeliness of the payments was that big a deal for you and your clients, you would have already figured out how to do ACH transfers which are cheaper, quicker and certainly more reliable.
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