Mailed a letter lately?
Yeah, me either except when I need to stuff a bunch of mail
into an envelope and send it off to relatives that haven't lived at my address
for 3 years. I have to do that because
the last time I tried to get a forwarding order for them all the mail,
including mine, went to their new address.
It took almost two years to straighten out that mess.
Which really makes me wonder what I've been paying for over the
past decade of regular postage rate increases.
Since 1991 the cost of a first class stamp has risen 17 cents. Meanwhile, the post office has been reducing
hours, cutting staff and playing outsourcer for UPS and
FEDEX.
Ok, so we've all heard the jokes about poor service, rude
employees and mishandled mail. Almost
immediately after the advent of electronic messaging the postal service earned
the moniker of "snail mail."
So now comes news less than a month after the latest rate
hike that you won't be getting any mail on Saturdays Packages
will still be delivered but that's about it.
The move is supposed to save some 2 billion dollars but even Postmaster
General Donahoe knows it's not enough.
Donahoe's been "officially" claiming Internet
messaging and carrier competition is driving down revenue and putting him in
the red.
In reality, the reason for the nation's mailman being in
such dire straits has nothing to do with business operations. It has to do with an accumulation of 20 Billion in debt since 2006 thanks to a document
called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.
Regardless of the spin, no amount of cost cutting or employee
attrition can offset it.
You've heard of taxation without representation, right?
Well, if the postal service were a real person it would be
the poster child for it. You know, just
like corporations are people to certain political parties.
Technically, the postal service is not a government agency
but a public entity created by the constitution. Only congress has authority over it. Unfortunately, that also makes it a vulnerable
to politics. The same kind of politics
that have been seeking to privatize more and more public entities like Medicare,
Social Security and now the U.S. Postal service.
You see, the problem with the Postal Service has nothing to
do with the Internet or competition from other carriers. It has to do with a burden placed on it by
congress that mandates that it fully fund pensions for 75 years. No other federal entity under the authority
of congress is required to do this. In
fact it actually funds pensions for employees that will likely never be
hired. Do the math and you'll soon find
that an unfair burden has turned a successful business model into a
organization starved for resources and failing.
While First class mail has been on the decline, parcel
shipments have been on the rise according to Donahoe's own charts. Without the extra burden of an overfunded
pension plan there'd be no deficit and no corresponding need to cut
anything. And there's the rub.
Donahoe either has no clue about what's wrong with the
postal service (unlikely) or he's trying to bluff congress into fixing the real
problem. If he is, he runs the risk of
turning public opinion against him with fewer service days and higher prices. With a 113th congress much more receptive to
the electorate than its predecessor that could spell final doom for the U.S.
mail.
You've placed your bet Mr. Postmaster, let's hope you're
holding a royal flush.
