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IBD Editorials

Dear Congress, Please Privatize The Post Office

Posted 02/06/2013 06:44 PM ET

Gov’t Monopoly: So the Postal Service’s genius plan for saving itself in the face of massive consumer flight is to raise prices and provide worse service. Unfortunately, Congress has left it with no other choice.

At the start of the year, the USPS hiked postal rates across the board, and this week it followed up by announcing plans to stop Saturday home delivery.

Obviously, something has to be done.

Last year, the USPS posted a record $15.9 billion loss, and Postmaster Genera l Patrick Donahoe says it’s hemorrhaging about $25 million a day, thanks to massive bloat and a cratering core business.

All but 7,000 of its 32,000 post offices lose money, for example, and a recent government audit found the USPS has almost twice as many mail facilities as it needs, 35,000 excess workers, tens of thousands of unneeded machines, and hugely wasted travel costs.

The fact that 85% of its workforce is unionized doesn’t help, either. In one six-month period, labor agreements forced the USPS to spend $4.3 million to pay workers to do ... nothing.

Meanwhile, first-class-mail volume is plunging. It fell 25% over the past decade and will likely drop another 46% over the next.

It’s not as though the USPS isn’t aware of this. In fact, it’s been trying for years to restructure its operations in light of its crumbling core business.

But it’s been stymied by Congress, which routinely blocks needed reforms either to protect special interests or spare districts from losing a precious post office.

http://news.investors.com/print/ibd-editorials/020613-643441-time-to-privatize-the-post-office.aspx