link--this

See the following editorial from the Chicago Tribune.

March 29, 2002

So what if the cost of a first-class stamp will be raised from 34
to 37 cents on June 30?

A first-class stamp remains one of the greatest bargains of the
world. For less than the cost of a four-minute phone call from
Chicago to San Diego, one can send a love letter there that takes
10 minutes to read and a lifetime to savor.

It's also cheaper than a Butterfinger bar, a pack of Juicy Fruit
gum, a Wall Street Journal or 30 minutes at a downtown parking
meter. If time is money, a stamp is a better deal than schlepping
to a currency exchange to pay the power bill.

If this were France, it would be hard to predict from one day to
the next whether letters and magazines would show up at all, given
our European cousins' penchant for postal strikes. If this were
Switzerland, with less than a hundredth of the ground to cover,
you'd pay 52 cents a letter. In similarly compact Japan, it's 74 cents.

The need for an increase is acute. The Great U.S. Postal Hemorrhage
started several years ago. Computer transactions, e-mail and the
rise of niche competitors all have contributed to the most
precipitous decline in mail volume since the Great Depression.

Take a look at the accompanying graphic. While Americans have been
complaining about the supposedly runaway rise of stamp prices, the
cost of a first-class stamp has, in fact, almost exactly tracked
inflation for several decades.

Nobody doubts this past year has been particularly rough on postal
workers and their beleaguered system. Some 12,000 jobs were
eliminated last year to cut costs, and another 10,000 to 15,000
people are to be laid off by the end of this year.

The Sept. 11 attacks and deadly anthrax scare poured vinegar into
the wound. With help from Congress, the postal service was forced
to deal with a $300 million anthrax cleanup, and has millions more
in unanticipated charges to pay for new equipment that detects and
kills anthrax spores. Mail volume took a steeper nose dive given
fears of possible contamination. And a good deal of mail once flown
commercial now, for security reasons, has to be shipped by more
expensive contract air freight.

The nation's postal potentates don't help themselves by basing
fiscal forecasts on assumptions of growth in mail volume. Time to
get real. And the U.S. Postal Service still has much faster
slogging ahead through snow, sleet and rain before it becomes a
productive, lean operation.

By law, the postal service has to break even--every year. So while
the independent agency is expected by Congress to act like a
business, it's also restricted by Congress from operating like one.
It may not, for instance, bank profits from a good year to carry
over into the next. That doesn't make sense, and it's time for
policymakers to rethink a 30-year-old law that has about 25 years of
dust on it.

Privatizing postal services is an option. But as shrill as we all
get about paying a few extra cents for a stamp, consider the
glass-breaking decibels that will echo across the land should mail
delivery become purely competitive.

First to take a hit would be Saturday delivery, followed possibly
by other days of the week, making mail delivery as occasional as
big-city garbage pickups. Many of those 138,000 often lonely postal
branches around the country? Goners.
Privatization would mean the anniversary card to Auntie Hattie and
Uncle Clem might not make it all the way to Chocowinity, N.C.(population
637).
And the prom queens of Slapout, Okla., (population 8) might have
to drive an hour along Route 270 to the next biggest town to get
their mail-order WonderBras in time for the big dance.
These would not be calamities. They would be inconveniences.
But significant enough to be worth another 3 cents to avoid.

Copyright (c) 2002, Chicago Tribune

¤ ¤ credit: Postmaster Elaine | 05.30.02 at 06:58 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Before posting, please see this entry. Thank you!

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 05.30.02 at 07:20 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

you really shouldn't take the things that are given to you for a small fee for granted. think about all the other countries in the world that still use things such as the pony express. i don't even want to know what you'd be saying about that method.

¤ ¤ credit: rachel | 05.30.02 at 10:27 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

If I don't have the right to question what goes on with my money after I've paid for a service, then I really don't know what the point of living in this country is... My husband has always wanted a pony, however.

I must say I'm growing increasingly frustrated at people that cannot distinguish the difference in questioning where the money is going with rate increase after rate increase, and why they are constantly needed when it is said they won't be again soon -- and in saying one isn't warranted or needed. Or even deserved. (Which I have not!) I haven't said any of those things. People are interpreting the way they see fit. Read my words people. Please. If something is leaking money, do you keep tossing it extra change -- or do you step back and figure out where the leak is coming from and fix the problem?

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 05.30.02 at 10:41 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Robyn, our cousin, Elaine, is a postmaster in a very small town in OK. She says that at their last postmasters meeting they were talking strongly of either privatization or making the postal service government run. As a government worker at an airbase I can tell you now that is NOT the answer, you think there is waste now---wait till then. As for making it private, she said they would be closing most smaller post office branches (which they may do anyway), and the stamp we now pay for would be one cost in a large city and perhaps up to $5.00 per stamp if it is mailed from a rural address. This was an upper level postal meeting she attended. Also, she said anthrax IS the reason for most of the expenses incurred now (extra security). A piece of mail without a return address immediately is shipped to Washington, D.C. for inspection---every piece. The pipe bombings didn't help matters either, and neither did 9/11. Remember when they "fixed" the phone company, and now look at our bills and repair costs---those used to be free. Ok, that's my soap box ranting. NOW, it's time to write your mother a letter... been a long time. :P

¤ ¤ credit: Mama | 05.31.02 at 12:52 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I'm jumping in way late on this (because I am your personal stalker and am catching up on your archives ;) but I totally agree with you.

Funny thing is, I know several postal workers who would also agree with you. They say their 'organization' is piss poorly managed, not enough people are hired to do the job, and big money is going to big guys (ala Verizon and Enron) while the grunts aren't making a whole hellavua lot.

Since this is a government 'company' of sorts, don't you think congress should hold it more accountable for all its mismanagement? Lord...

¤ ¤ credit: reese | 08.18.03 at 01:11 PM | link--this ¤ ¤