Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Friday, August 10th, 2012

Be Wary of Talk About Privatizing the Post Office

Author:     MICHAEL HILTZIK
Source:     Los Angeles Times
Publication Date:     August 7, 2012, 4:34 p.m.
 Link: Be Wary of Talk About Privatizing the Post Office
Stephan:   Benjamin Franklin Deputy Post Master for the colonies understood in the 18th century the important role the postal system played in linking the country together. Nothing has changed. As I have written several times, as I travel around the U.S. I make a point of talking with postmasters and postmistresses, particularly in the small towns and villages that dot the nation from Alaska to Hawaii. To a person they have mourned this conservative project to turn the PO into a profit center for a few. Post Offices are the place where one catches up with friends, and hears the news of the community. Closing them literally tears the guts out of these little human pods of people. This report on what is going on is the best one I have come across. Tearing the PO apart will also have powerful impact on the growing schism that is arising in the U.S. An unintended consequence none of the proponents for this ill-conceived plan even seems to think about.

While thumbing through the household mail one recent day - a bill from the vet, a statement from the bank, 47 come-ons for low-interest credit cards and a birthday card from Grandma - I pondered the following riddle:

Why is it that the same conservatives who harped on how an obscure provision of the U.S. Constitution should have invalidated the healthcare reform act never talk about the provision that gives the federal government responsibility for postal service?

It’s right there, at Article I, Section 8. Yet, in some quarters, talk of privatizing the post office never seems to ebb. That talk is experiencing another surge just now, because theU.S. Postal Service is in the process of defaulting on a payment of more than $5 billion owed to the Treasury.

Michael Hiltzik
E-mail | Recent columns
The Postal Service and the business of mail The Postal Service and the business of mail
USPS keeps rural post offices open, cuts hours USPS keeps rural post offices open, cuts hours
CISPA, Postal Service bills among Congress’ spring cleaning CISPA, Postal Service bills among Congress’ spring cleaning

Ads […]

Read the Full Article