Postal Letter

How are the Army and the US Postal Service able to advertise?

Since both are government agencies, in essence, it seems like they're advertising for services provided by the US government. Is that (i.e. advertising for the government) considered legal? Why or why not? I'm doing this for a research project on freedom of speech so please cite your sources as much as possible. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. The army has always been able to advertize for recruiting purposes. The post office has always been able to advertize too. It is thought that if there were no post office, then it's primary function, sending ordinary1-stamp letters and post cards by regular mail or discount mail, would not be provided by the private sector for rurual customers (in most places geographically). That is probably not true these days, but it would probably cost a great deal more than a few cents to send an ordinary letter from a small town in Idaho to a small town in Florida, for example. It is another issue whether they should actually advertize. One would like to think that the services they advertize for are profitable for them (in terms of variable profit at least), and that they actually receive a net benefit financially from the advertizing campaigns. But, really, the managers and officials of the postal service make that determination, right or wrong. There is a whole lot of criticism of the postal service, since it seems that thew cost of operating the postal service, grows each and every year in excess of the rate of inflation. alos, one has to wonder whether they make pricing decisions according to sound business principals, or just simply notice that they are losing money and simultaneously increase stamp prices, thinking that this will somehow get them even. Of course, the restraint on their prices is not the necessarily thee consumer's willingness to pay, it is the government's willingness to allow them to raise prices (just like a regulated utility).