[ OUR OPINION ]
STAR-BULLETIN / 1996
Honolulu postal workers manage to have a little fun while sorting Christmas mail for delivery around Oahu.
Postal Service should
stick to its routeARRIVAL of e-mail in the world of communications has sent the U.S. Postal Service on an ill-advised venture into competition with free enterprise. The agency's proper role is that of delivering mail at reasonable rates to all mailers, and a commission appointed last week by President Bush should find ways that can be done more efficiently. The Postal Service should not stray from its traditional mission.
THE ISSUE President Bush has appointed a commission to recommend ways to overhaul the nation's postal system.
Senator Akaka, as chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, has assessed the problem accurately by urging that the nine commission members "review the fundamental issues associated with management and operations of the USPS. Attention must be given to providing the continuation of universal service, providing adequate funds for capital needs, and dealing with long-term liabilities while securing the retirement security of its employees."
The Postal Service has withstood the advent of the telegraph, telephone and fax machine, and it can survive e-mail. Instead, it has tried to enter the private-sector market, contracting with companies to provide various electronic financial services. This government monopoly has embarked into areas in direct competition with private companies and poured an enormous amount of money into an advertising budget, even though 80 percent of its revenue comes from monopoly activities.
In recent years the Postal Service has charged headlong into the advertising business in direct competition with newspapers and other media. Unsolicited advertising mail has become its largest source of revenue. Meanwhile, postal rates for periodicals have increased 60 percent during the past decade, threatening the continued distribution of magazines and other publications. The rate hikes have been felt by Oahu Publications' Star-Bulletin and MidWeek.
The Treasury Department has been put in charge of the presidential commission because the Postal Service owes the government $11 billion from losses and borrowing for capital expenses. Postmaster General John E. Potter announced two months ago that the agency had reduced its $900 billion budget by $2.9 billion, mainly by reducing the work force through attrition by 23,000 in 2002. An additional 12,000 departing employees will not be replaced next year.
Labor costs remain burdensome. The law mandates compulsory arbitration in collective-bargaining impasses. The Postal Service's Board of Governors noted to President Bush last year that the requirement "placed some 80 percent of our costs in the hands of a third-party arbitrator with neither understanding nor responsibility for our role and mission."
The Main Street Coalition for Postal Fairness, representing companies and associations that account for 40 percent of the Postal Service's volume, called for a presidential commission last year to consider reforms in areas of cost management and containment. Impairment of the nation's mail system "will be not only a major political crisis but also a major economic crisis," the coalition warned.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
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