The U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors Tuesday joined the growing number of organizations and legislators calling for a presidential commission to oversee postal service reform.
In a statement signed by chairman Robert F. Rider, postal governors said they “support all efforts for appropriate [postal] reform, including a commission of distinguished citizens to review all aspects of the postal system and recommend changes that ensure affordable, universal service is maintained in the future.”
It was the first time that postal governors publicly endorsed the idea of a commission.
“It’s about time,” said Gene Del Polito, Association for Postal Commerce president. “Everybody’s been waiting for them to come up with the same conclusion of others that the postal service is still in need of structural change. With the absence of viable legislation, the only way of doing that is through a presidential commission.”
Del Polito, noting the failure of Congress to pass any of the three postal reform bills proposed by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) since 1995, predicted that President Bush will announce appointments to the panel in the near future.
White House officials would not comment on the prospect of a commission.
Over the last few months Del Polito and other industry leaders have been meeting with Administration officials in an attempt to spur their interest in reforming the deficit-ridden USPS.
After several years of running in the black, the USPS is anticipating a $1.5 billion loss for this fiscal year, which ends in September. Last year it lost $1.6 billion and the year before that it posted a $199 million loss. The losses were attributed to rising costs and dwindling mail volumes, particularly in Standard (advertising) mail, down 6% from last year.
Meantime legislation authorizing the creation of an 11-member Presidential Commission to over see postal reform (S-2754) has been introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
The bill, pending before the Senate’s Government Affairs Committee, has been endorsed by the Association of Postal Commerce, Direct Marketing Association, Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, and the Mailers Council, along with a number of other industry groups.
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