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Letter: USPS flaws are documented

The Columbian
Published: September 11, 2011, 5:00pm

The U.S. Postal Service is running out of funds to operate. I decided to chart each piece of mail that we received for two weeks. Here are the results: 170 pieces of mail were delivered. Of those, 23 or 13 percent were first class; 36 or 21 percent were bulk nonprofit and political; 99 or 58 percent were bulk commercial and bulk catalogues; 13 or 8 percent were bulk magazines and other bulk materials. (First class 13 percent; bulk postage 87 percent.)

All bulk mail is handled at reduced rates. They come from the printer pre-sorted for ease of delivery. At some point they have to be handled by postal workers, either in large containers or by the letter carrier as they are put into the mail box.

It is obvious that the postal service is subsidizing commercial interests with bulk rates, but if the postal service requests an increase, the commercial interests immediately contact the legislators to whom they have given generous campaign contributions, who then prevent any increase in rates.

As someone has said or written, “It is a hell of a way to run a railroad,” or in this case, “a postal service.”

Hugh Shuford

Vancouver

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