07 May 2012
Save the USPS
Last week I sent emails to Senators Boxer and Feinstein urging them to ensure that we will continue the United States Postal Service (USPS).
The post office where I receive my mail functions as a town center for many of us. What links all Americans together better than the Post Office? Benjamin Franklin saw the need for a federal postal service as a means for uniting the colonies into a nation, not as separate states united only for defense. I think Franklin's logic remains rigorous today.
Certainly there could be reforms in the USPS and I have these suggestions:
The post office where I receive my mail functions as a town center for many of us. What links all Americans together better than the Post Office? Benjamin Franklin saw the need for a federal postal service as a means for uniting the colonies into a nation, not as separate states united only for defense. I think Franklin's logic remains rigorous today.
Certainly there could be reforms in the USPS and I have these suggestions:
- Remove the financial requirement for 100 percent funding of its pension benefits and health care retirement costs. Unless, this funding requirement becomes mandatory for all federal departments and agencies.
- Note to all government budget officers: by making all departments and agencies fully fund their employees' benefits, the cost of adding a new employee or replacing a departed one will have a dampening effect on government department heads when the full cost of a new-hire/ transferring an existing government employee entails an additional 34 percent to the wage or salary for that department's budget. Note to politicians: by fully costing out salaries plus benefits in department and agency budgets, there will be an automatic constraint on the size of the employee cost as it affects departmental budget requests.
- Give constituents franking privileges for letters mailed to their Congressional Representatives using the USPS.
- Offer discounted stamps (customer discounts) for using Post Office boxes for receiving mail, and eliminate home delivery for those customers who switch to P. O. box addresses.
- This consolidation of delivery points could enable more automation for sorting and delivery.
- Only USPS mail from senders required to be delivered to the residential address (voting materials, for example) would require a special or one-time effort by the local USPS offices. Such unique delivery items could be contracted out to bonded private entities.
- Outgoing mail could be left in conveniently located mailboxes for USPS pickup at posted, specific times per day. Already there is software for creating stamps. Improvements to this kind of software could include items and documentation for Certified, Registered, Return Receipt, and insurance. Senders should have the option to take their items to a post office for special delivery and insurance services. These services need not be at discounted rates.
- For Next-Day items, the USPS already has envelopes and packages at different rates; for an additional tbd fee, a pickup service-again could be contracted out-from a residence or place of business.
- USPS need not compete with private messaging and parcel companies in all products, such as are available through e-mail, tweets, Facebook posts, UPS and Federal Express. If USPS were to focus on products and processes where it has a competitive advantage and improves on them, USPS should be a viable, public service agency of the federal government.
- USPS should examine its human resources policies and procedures to determine which, if any, cause the USPS to operate at a competitive disadvantage over time. A structural disadvantage, as it were. If job security is more productive for attracting and retaining the best employees, using a merit-based salary and wage system, then USPS should not have to match private companies' wage levels. Security of work with benefits can be a viable program versus having to match private sector competitive wage earning and benefits without work security and without fully funded retirement benefits. This seems like a viable paradigm for this market. Union representation should be allowed and included in restructuring the USPS HR paradigm to a merit-based salary and wage program with task and skill-based job descriptions that would underlie hiring decisions, would determine measurable performance criteria and would support promotion, skills training, disciplinary status and termination criteria. Seniority should not be a factor for transferring or retention of any job position, because in a merit-based employment program, there are no criteria to support 'seniority' as a useful factor.
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