On Thursday, the United States Postal Service reported a net loss of $15.9 billion for the year. As it becomes increasingly insolvent and increasingly dependent on taxpayer-funded support and bailouts, USPS continues to hold a legal monopoly on the delivery of standard and first-class mail—a monopoly that violates our rights by forcibly preventing us from creating or using private mail companies for those services. Meanwhile, USPS has requested that Congress reduce its delivery schedule to a 5-day week to reduce costs; if Congress were to do so, Americans would be left without any (legal) mail delivery on Saturdays and Sundays. USPS is also trying to increase revenue at the cost of citizens’ time and patience by increasing its delivery of junk mail.
Rather than capitulate to USPS requests, Congress should see this loss as yet another definitive sign that it’s time to shut down or sell the Postal Service and to privatize mail delivery.
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Related:
- Privatize the Postal Service: Protect Rights, Save Money, Improve Service
- Capitalism and the Moral High Ground
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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