The Postmaster General has just announced the demise of Saturday mail delivery. The 150-year-old weekend service had been in decline for more than a decade before the postman finally pulled the plug.
The USPS reckons it will save $2 billion a year by moving to five-day-a-week service. Of course, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $16 billion the boys in blue lost last year — while defaulting on payments to their pension fund. Twice.
If the Postal Service is to survive without billion-dollar bailouts every year, it’ll have to adjust to the times. That means transforming a government-granted monopoly into a market competitor. As Cornell University’s Richard Geddes points out, all 27 members of the European Union have eliminated their postal monopolies and made their systems more efficient.
The Postal Service has many advantages, including valuable property and a far-flung network for delivery. There’s only one reason it finds itself unable to use these assets to flourish in a more competitive environment: Congress.
It’s ironic that congressmen of both parties are complaining about the end of Saturday service when it is Congress that has brought the USPS to this point by standing in the way of every reasonable reform. That’s because Republicans and Democrats alike are well aware that the Postal Service remains the No. 2 employer in the nation.
Right now, Congress has a stranglehold over the USPS’s fundamental business decisions. That’s why even members who call for reform suddenly become champions for the status quo when a sorting center or post office in their district is up for closure.
Our message to Congress: If you truly love something, let it go.