The U.S Postal Service is Privatizing
An article in the Kansas City Star today discusses the move by the U.S Postal Service to privatize some of it’s mail routes in the KC area:
They are contract mail carriers, a phenomenon that is starting to take
root in the Kansas City area. It has union members and politicians
squawking, but Postal Service accountants are smiling.
Because of rising costs and lower revenues at the U.S. Postal Service, the move toward private mail carriers is a great way to reduce costs, especially for a government-run service that hasn’t produced a profit in the past few years. Yet, as always, unions and politicians see a problem in saving taxpayers some money:
Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, has introduced a bill to stop
contracting mail carriers except in the most sparsely populated rural
areas. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, is a co-sponsor.
The primary complaint that the politicians and unions have made is that mail carriers handle sensitive documents that should only be delivered by postal employees. Well, last time I checked, many delivery services other than the USPS handle sensitive documents, and they deliver them to their destinations on time. It’s not like the USPS delivers classified documents from CIA headquarters to the White House.
Overall, what the USPS is doing is the first smart move in ages that will facilitate cutting costs and saveing money for millions of Americans. Maybe, for once, I will receive the mail I really need on time — if it ever gets to St. Louis.
