Postal Letter

Remember when the US Postal service used to be run by the gov't?

And it was bleeding money, so back in the 1970's they basically privatized it with strict gov't oversight. And since then, they make money almost every year. If that has worked for over 30 years, why not try it in other areas? Education, Corrections, Parks Dept., welfare, social security to name a few. Aren't all of these institutions failing under direct gov't control presently? And costing us money? Maybe by privatizing things with gov't oversight like the USPS did, we could start to fix things, lower the budget and cut taxes and create jobs all at once right? Any thoughts? I'm not saying the Post Offive is a paragon of virtue but remember it back in the early 1970's when they were simply a "branch of the gov't" they are a LOT better now by comparison. "In 1971, the department was reorganized as a quasi-independent agency of the federal government and acquired its present name" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Postal_Service

Public Comments

1. The Postal Service is losing money because it is inefficiently run and has too much government oversight. If the Postal Service was ran like its private sector competitiors, FedEx and UPS, it could potentially turn a profit.
2. Not sure about the Postal Service, it's still a crap organization run by the government and its rates are still set by the government. But Social Security can't become more efficient, it pays out 99.5% of every dollar it receives. No private organization could come close. You can't be knee jerk about this -- there are some things that government does more efficiently than anything else. I just don't happen to believe that the Post Office is one of them.
3. A lot of things have been privitized. Some with good effects and some disasterous. A lot of the horrendous things that happened at the VA hospital in DC were directly a result of privitization of services there. I think that privitization is ok for things that can make a profit. If it is profitable then Government has no business doing it. Gov't should do the things we need but which cannot or should not be done at a profit. I can't see how welfare could be privitized. Parks - well, if you want everyone who goes to a national park to have to pay $1,000 to get in and make them just a haven for the wealthy. And what if it is more profitable to sell off park land for developers? I don't see that working. (Gift shops and restaurants in parks are already privitized).
4. IT MIGHT WORK. THE BEST THING THAT HAPPEN TO THE POSTAL SERVICE WAS UPS & FED EX
5. If you think the Postal Service is well run, then you've never worked for it. The Postal Service pays way too much money to people for jobs that a monkey could do. I loved it getting paid so much while I was working there, but I'm not surprised they're a sinking ship. Even I got paid $14/hour for part-time data entry work. And that's just as a temporary employee. Imagine what career employees got paid.
6. Yes. Mail was delivered unopened and was delivered to the correct address, also changes of address were completed accurately as well as within a punctual time frame. The Patriot Act ruined the postal service; problems as soon as that law passed. The accuracy of the previous postal service was accurate enough for legal purposes and documentation--that is no longer the case.
7. You think the post office is making money???? Then why the hell do they keep increasing the cost to send a first class letter? And just where the hell is my priority package that was insured for $600? I sent it 3 weeks ago.
8. I'd work there if I could, I need the money.
9. The USPS is not a money making operation and has not been privatized. I will say the service is much better than it was under the direct control of the Federal government. They actually do care about quality. I can remember the customer was treated like dirt and there was no quality control. There is much to be said about privatization such as UPS. FedEx, DHL and others. It is when the private sector starts to monopolize that problems begin.