In Our View: Saturday Mail?

Only the uninformed skeptic would question the U.S. Postal Service’s reliability and quality of performance. As we reported last year, the national on-time mail delivery rate was 97 percent, and the Portland Postal Service region, which includes Clark County, was even higher: 98 percent. For a 44-cent cost of a first-class stamp, what a deal!

But when it comes to fiscal efficiency, the service has an abysmal track record, and it’s getting worse every year. In 2010, the Postal Service projects a $7 billion loss, and unless drastic changes are made, a cumulative loss of $238 billion could be suffered in the next decade. Clearly, something must be done, and ending Saturday mail delivery ranks at or near the top of possible solutions.

Last week, Postmaster General John Potter again endorsed dropping Saturday mail delivery, and the independent Postal Regulatory Commission will be asked to consider that recommendation later this month. This change could save an estimated $3 billion annually.

Dropping Saturday mail delivery, as we editorialized last year, would be lamentable, but it’s necessary, and we hasten to proffer a few additional facts. First, no one is proposing closing post offices on Saturdays. That’s the proper stance to take, in our view, because many people who work weekdays need access to post offices on Saturdays. (This doesn’t mean post offices are immune to complete closure, as the Postal Service is continuing to do just that.)

Another factor to consider is the massive reduction in mail volume, from 213 billion items handled in 2006 to 177 billion pieces last year, and a projected further reduction to 150 billion items by 2020. Reasons for this are varied, but chief among them is the inexorable cultural shift from paper communication to electronic communication. What with social networks on the Internet, e-mail, Twitter, texting and myriad other marvels of electronic wizardry, more Americans are deciding against writing a letter or signing a card, licking an envelope, affixing a 44-cent stamp, waiting a day or two for the letter or card to be picked up or going to the trouble of taking the item to a post office or mail deposit box and then waiting one to three days for the letter or card to be delivered. Plus, many of us are forgetful, or we procrastinate, and to have the celebration of Granny’s birthday only a few mouse clicks away from fulfillment, well, that’s too much convenience to pass up.

Remember, for about three decades, the Postal Service has received no taxpayer subsidies. But the rising debt of this semi-independent federal agency that is rooted in the U.S. Constitution cannot be allowed to continue. Giving up on Saturday delivery makes as much sense as increasing postal rates, another solution that’s being pondered.

Two other changes worth implementing are reducing the work force (that could be accomplished largely through attrition as 300,000 postal workers will be eligible to retire in the next decade) and matching private sector’s zeal for reducing the cost of employee benefits ($5.5 billion must be prepaid each year by the Postal Service just for expected medical benefits for retirees).

Despite prophecies of the doomsayers, we don’t envision the Postal Service going away any time soon. And privatization of the entire system appears unlikely because of the hefty challenge of visiting every address in America for 44 cents per first-class item. But if sweeping efficiencies aren’t implemented soon, the Postal Service’s problems will only worsen.