Or is that Congress we smell?
One easy way to judge our politics and our common sense as a nation is to look at the United States Post Office. No government operation is or could be run as effectively or as efficiently as a private sector business. But the Post Office stands out as a singularly isolated example of incredible government incompetence.
The USPS lost $5.1 billion in the latest fiscal year – after serious cost-cutting. Total 2012 losses may exceed $14 billion, a figure larger than the budgets of 35 states. Mail volume has declined 20% in five years with no end in sight – Netflix is one of their biggest current customers.
The USPS has the nation’s second-largest civilian workforce behind Wal-Mart. Their labor represents 80 percent of their total costs – compared to 53 percent for UPS and 32 percent of FedEx – mostly because of union demands and an unaccountable Congress. When the USPS gets around to laying off a third of its 653,000 employees, Congress will have to overturn the no-layoff provisions in the labor contracts.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) wants to solve the problem by encouraging people to go back to letter writing via an USPS advertizing campaign. That resulted is this:
Letters “don’t get lost in thin air” and “a refrigerator has never been hacked. An online virus has never attacked a corkboard.”
“Paper statements are good for business and good for customers.”
They cannot be serious. The Senator and her wards would be better off watching this Conan “stench of death” comedy bit.
How can anyone think that the Post Office should remain a government agency?
Here’s where I stole most of my facts:
Privatize The Nation’s Mail Delivery
By George F. Will, the Washington Post
November 25, 2011
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