From The Associated Press:
The legislation, 10 years in the making, is aimed at making the USPS more competitive in a new business environment where e-mail has reduced mail volume and private companies have taken away business.
"Observers have likened this to a 'death spiral' where declining business leads to higher rates, which in turn leads to a further decline in business, and so on," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee.
Do we even need the post office any more? Every civilized country needs some form of postal service, but is it perhaps time for the U.S. to begin turning over the function of the USPS to private industry? With the existence of private companies like FedEx, UPS and others (who can often deliver packages cheaper and faster than the Post Office) do we really need a federally funded delivery service any more?
Maybe I'm just bitter. Our postal service here in Minot really stinks. They're always losing things and their delivery times even in state are so erratic that you can't even begin to predict how long a letter is going to take to get delivered. I would think that private industry, through competition, could do the job cheaper and faster.