In a letter to President Bush, the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors told him that without "a comprehensive review and overhaul of the postal laws of the United States" its ability to provide universal service would be "at serious risk."
The letter, which echoes comments made by BOG Chairman Robert F. Rider at the board's monthly public meeting, calls for a review of the Postal Reorganization Act. According to the Board's letter, the Act requires the Postal Service to provide universal service "under regulatory and rate-setting schemes now hopelessly outdated."
Specifically, the Board cited domestic services rate cases' need for an 18-month lead time to prepare, litigate and implement rate changes. Competitors, it noted, are able to change prices immediately, and are not bound by the mandate to provide universal coverage.
In presenting its case for review of the act, the board noted that "Over the course of the last quarter century, postal markets and technological innovation have evolved and fundamentally changed the assumptions on which the former legislation was based. The statutory framework simply does not provide practical and adaptable solutions in today's rapidly changing and truly global communications environment."
The letter, which was sent to Bush on Friday, March 2, was signed by all nine Governors.
