Adapting the Post Office To the Digital Age

Hugh Pickens writes "Paul B. Carroll and Chunka Mui write in the Washington Post that with projected deficits through 2020 of $238 billion, the debate over potential changes at the US Postal Service is like a fight over the dessert bar on the Titanic: email has already supplanted letters, more people will send money via PayPal rather than mail checks, people will download their movies and books, check their bills online, and receive information about their investments electronically. Delivery volume for first-class mail fell 22 percent from 1998 through 2007, tumbled an additional 13 percent last year and was down 3 percent in the first half of this year despite heavy mailings from the Census Bureau. USPS's future lies in things that need to be delivered physically: shoes, computers and other objects, and the USPS has assets that could let it take on UPS and FedEx. 'USPS needs to start with the future and work backward to the present,' write Carroll and Mui. 'It needs to forecast volumes for all types of its business five, 10 and 15 years out and design a business model that will thrive under those scenarios. Only then can it figure out what radical changes need to be made now.'"

Comments

Re:not actually a monopoly

[PopeRatzo]

The Federal Government has interpreted this clause as granting a de facto Congressional monopoly over the delivery of mail.

This is the part of your statement that requires a citation, XanC. The sole power to establish "post offices" has not stopped UPS and FedEx from setting up offices all across the US.

There is no law that prevents UPS or FedEx from delivering letters in envelopes. They just don't see sufficient profit margin in doing so. They'll gladly deliver a sheet of paper in an envelope for you, but they'll charge a few bucks for it instead of > fifty cents.

Re:Where USPS falls short

[Shakrai]

I don't get the ex-con bit, is someone with a criminal conviction not supposed to have a job?

No, but should they have a job that involves the handling of all manner of expensive items, including firearms?