[1]
Has Congress Made It Impossible For The Postal Service To Survive [2]
By Jack Swint
Is Another Of Americas Founding Institutions Fading Away Into History Forever“
“It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed”” Herotodus, referring to the courier service of the ancient Persian Empire
A Continued Collision Course For Failure
Without the federal government interceding soon, the United States Postal Service will have insufficient funds to pay its obligations. Should the feds bail out the Post Office in the same fashion as the auto, banking and other lenders were? And, do we even need them when private companies like United Parcel Service and Federal Express deliver packages and letters while showing a yearly profit?
Even Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told a Senate committee that he would like to run the Post Office more like the way private competitors are run, but that current federal law and policy prevent him from doing so. Bottom line, Congress may have both tied its own hands from offering a bailout to the Post Office while at the same time helping the USPS go under.
For one, US Congress members mandated that the USPS must annually prepay $5.5 billion in health retirement benefits, and has otherwise imposed obligations to employees while also mandating that some aspects of the Postal service be run at a loss. Federal Statute 39 USC 101 “Postal Policy” mandates obligation of the USPS to keep open post office branches that are running at a deficit in order to ensure “effective postal services . . to residents of both urban and rural communities.”
Congress provides the Post Office with no subsidy, demanding that it fund its operations in the way that a private firm would, from fees for the services and goods it provides while also imposing mandates on the Post Office that it does not impose on competing private firms … Read More [2]