POSTAL INSPECTORS have been chasing mail fraud artists for 160 years. And they’ve built a remarkable track record, given the limitations they face.
For example, they can entrap people. They can monitor them. But there’s one thing they can’t do.
They aren’t allowed to open envelopes.
How easy it would be if they could, and see just what people are ordering. But we believe in the sanctity of the mail in this country — and in due process — and so they can’t. Nor can other law enforcement agents.
That protection has survived several wars and national upheavals. But now some in Congress want to dilute it in the name of national security.
The Customs Border Security Act (H.R. 3129) would allow customs officers to inspect outgoing international mail without a warrant.
Congressmen fear that terrorists could use the mail to ship weapons. But that doesn’t justify dispensing with a protection that we have had since Ben Franklin’s time.
As the American Civil Liberties Union put it, this bill would “undermine the right to privacy in personal correspondence.”
But there is also a business concern. DMA chief Bob Wientzen recently said that “such a measure would slow the pace of mail and add millions to the cost of shipping goods overseas.”
Let’s reconsider this proposal.
Did you get a bonus in 2001?
Probably not, if your company is struggling like many others. Not only have firms cut back on bonuses, they have reduced base pay and eliminated thousands of jobs.
In light of that, it does not exactly warm our hearts that U.S. Postal Service executives are going to be rewarded with $200 million in bonuses.
These execs allegedly contributed to “efficiency.”
But how do you define that word?
What’s efficient about an outfit that hits customers with three price increases in 18 months, while racking up $1.7 billion in losses in a year?
Granted, the USPS suffered the brunt of the anthrax attacks. For that reason, we believe Congress should grant the $5 billion in relief requested by PMG John Potter.
But many direct marketing firms were also badly hurt by Sept. 11 and by the anthrax scare. Nobody has suggested that they receive a federal bailout.
In the free market, companies have to take painful actions like cutting staff and reducing compensation.
Based on their own performance, the postal executives might well deserve the money. But this is no time for the USPS to reward anybody.
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