Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., on Tuesday endorsed Postmaster General John Potter's plan to cut U.S. Postal Service deliveries from six to five days as the agency suffers severe and continued declines in revenue.
"As Postmaster General Potter pointed out today, the Postal Service will need to make significant, strategic changes to its operations in the coming months and years in order to maintain universal service and to provide the products and services so many Americans depend on," said Carper, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee. The panel oversees the Postal Service.
Five-day delivery has been a goal of the Postal Service but has been blocked by congressional opposition. E-mail and private delivery services such as UPS and FedEx provide fierce competition. The Postal Service is also seeking to restructure retiree health benefit payments and address overpayments to the Postal Service Civil Service Retirement System pension fund.
Mail volume is projected to fall from 177 billion pieces in 2009 to 150 billion in 2020, according to the Postal Service. That represents a 37 percent decline in first-class mail alone. Revenue contributed by first-class mail will plummet from 51 percent this year to about 35 percent in 2020, the agency said. The Service estimates that if it takes no action, it will face a cumulative shortfall of $238 billion by 2020.
"In light of the serious financial challenges facing the Postal Service, postal management must be allowed to make the business decisions they need to stay competitive and viable in the years to come," Carper added. "As we have seen, it is not productive for Congress to act like a 535-member board of directors and constantly second guess these necessary changes."
Potter said he plans to ask the Postal Regulatory Commission for an advisory opinion on his proposals to streamline operations. The regulatory commission would hold a public hearing on the proposal before issuing its opinion.
National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando opposed a halt to Saturday service, calling it "a drastic move ... both unnecessary and counterproductive." Rolando said. He said that instead Congress should take steps to correct a $75 billion overcharge in postal pension costs identified in a report released this year by the postal inspector general.
"If Congress takes such action, the Postal Service will have the financial breathing room needed to develop a more successful plan," Rolando added.
Carper praised Potter for making decisions to cuts costs and introducing products such as the flat-rate box promotion. But he said more work must be done to stave off the massive deficits that are projected to bankrupt the agency. He called the elimination of Saturday service "a difficult step, but one that large majorities of postal customers have said they can accept."
News release courtesy of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers (www.nonprofitmailers.org).
