Cutbacks on mail delivery
The U.S. Postal Service needs to restructure and cut costs to avoid bankruptcy.
The U.S. Postal Service announced this week that it would dramatically scale back services in a bid to save itself from bankruptcy. The post office said it would seek Congress’s approval to eliminate next-day delivery for first-class mail and to slow down other mail service. Letters and postcards would take at least two days to deliver, and commercial mail such as periodicals up to nine days. The USPS also wants to shut over half of its 487 mail processing centers starting in March and to eliminate around 28,000 jobs. The postal service lost $5.1 billion last year because of large pension obligations and rapidly shrinking postal volumes, and faces bankruptcy if it does not restructure and cut costs. “You can’t continue to run red ink and not make changes,” said Patrick Donahoe, the postmaster general.
The USPS is committing suicide by a thousand cuts, said John Nichols in TheNation.com. Downgrading service will only hasten its demise, not save it. Cutting next-day delivery will push even more customers over to the Internet, and presents private companies with an “open invitation” to take away even more of the postal service’s business. “Americans are almost being pushed into the arms of UPS and FedEx.”
So why not let one of them just buy the USPS? said NationalReview.com in an editorial. A private owner could return the postal service to profitability by focusing exclusively on services that “customers are willing to pay for” and breaking up the labor unions whose insistence on “unusually high salaries and benefits” is bankrupting the service. “There is no reason for the government to run a mail company.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But as long as it does, said Maurice McTigue in NYTimes.com, Congress needs to stand back and let the USPS “make sound business decisions.” Lawmakers have failed for years to grant the postal service the authority to make smarter moves, such as ending Saturday delivery, charging more for postage stamps, and opening branches in convenient locations like “grocery stores, malls, and pharmacies.” The USPS could still save itself—but only if it’s allowed to “act like a real business.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - October 13, 2024
Sunday's cartoons - the swing of things, fear of facts, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 timely cartoons about climate change denial
Cartoons Artists take on textbook trouble, bizarre beliefs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Kris Kristofferson: the free-spirited country music star who studied at Oxford
In the Spotlight The songwriter, singer and film-star has died aged 88
By The Week UK Published
-
The final fate of Flight 370
feature Malaysian officials announced that radar data had proven that the missing Flight 370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The airplane that vanished
feature The mystery deepened surrounding the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared one hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A drug kingpin’s capture
feature The world’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was captured by Mexican marines in the resort town of Mazatlán.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A mixed verdict in Florida
feature The trial of Michael Dunn, a white Floridian who fatally shot an unarmed black teen, came to a contentious end.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
New Christie allegation
feature Did a top aide to the New Jersey governor tie Hurricane Sandy relief funds to the approval of a development proposal in the city of Hoboken?
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
A deal is struck with Iran
feature The U.S. and five world powers finalized a temporary agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
End-of-year quiz
feature Here are 40 questions to test your knowledge of the year’s events.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Note to readers
feature Welcome to a special year-end issue of The Week.
By The Week Staff Last updated