The woes of the U.S. Postal Service are well documented. Most recently, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told Congress how technology and changing markets continue to undermine the service’s fiscal stability. The agency lost more than $8 billion last year and could lose even more this year. There’s been a lot talk about the problem, but few concrete suggestions to remedy it. That changed Monday when President Barack Obama provided a detailed strategy for rejuvenating the postal service.
The blueprint must pass political and public muster. It has much to recommend it.
The recommendation likely to stir the most debate is reducing the number of days mail will be delivered from six to five. Saturday delivery is most likely to be eliminated. That will cause some hardship, but some cuts are necessary to save a vital public service. A delivery reduction, albeit painful, is one such cut. Officials say ending Saturday service could save $3.1 billion annually.
Two other Obama proposals are meritorious as well. There’s no reason to force the postal service to continue to prepay retiree medical benefits (no other federal agency does). It also makes sense to refund what the agency has overpaid into the federal retirement system. Neither step eliminates the service’s obligations, but both provide a bit of financial cushion.
Obama’s proposal also would allow an increase in the price of postage, and it would allow post offices to sell “non-postal products,” though there was no indication what those might be. Those proposals should incite relatively little opposition.