Postal Service needs change

Like many entities adapting to advances in technology, changing consumer habits and the difficult economy, the U.S. Postal Service must change the way it does business.

Earlier this week, Postmaster General John E. Potter sought support for a restructuring plan. Otherwise, the agency could lose some $238 billion in the next decade, $7 billion this fiscal year alone. The most significant change involves halting Saturday mail deliveries, a change a Gallup poll says most Americans support.

This strategy is preferable to government subsidization of the independent agency of the executive branch, which operates as a commercial entity. The agency relies on sales of postage, mail products and services for revenue, and it is required by law to cover its costs. Mail volumes have dropped significantly in recent years as the use of e-mail and online bill paying has proliferated. The number of addresses in the nation has grown by nearly 18 million in the past decade. Yet, the number of postal employees has decreased by more than 200,000, part of ongoing cost-cutting and efficiency measures. The Postal Service has cut its costs by $43 billion since 2002, Potter wrote in a recent Washington Post opinion article.

The Postal Service also seeks more flexibility in setting delivery schedules, prices and labor costs. One proposal would be opening self-serve postal kiosks in high traffic areas or forming more business partnerships for the sale of postal products and services by grocers or office supply stores. Postal rates also could be increased.

Many of these ideas make good sense, but some are already receiving resistance. Changes to employee work schedules would have to be negotiated with postal workers' unions. Labor leaders are already balking against the plan.

Companies that mail ads to consumers are also opposed to eliminating Saturday delivery, because it would render their advertisements untimely. Direct mail advertisers are one of the Postal Service's biggest clients.

Although the Postal Service was reorganized as a quasi-independent institution in 1970, it is one of the few government agencies authorized by the U.S. Constitution. That is why congressional approval is needed for these changes.

Potter obviously speaks from a position of self interest that Congress may elect to ignore. It shouldn't. The Government Accountability Office last year said "no single change" would be sufficient to rescue the Postal Service.

Congress should give the Postal Service adequate flexibility to address its teeming financial challenges. There is still a significant need to provide mail service at an affordable price. Congress and labor unions need to get on board with these needed changes.