LET’S SEE: Two postal rate increases in 2001. Another one on the way in 2002, and a very good chance the U.S. Postal Service will ask this fall for yet another round of hikes in 2003. Postal volumes are falling, and the USPS can’t move fast enough to cut costs. So how likely is it that some white knight will appear on the legislative scene to rework the 30-year-old anachronism known as the Postal Reorganization Act and get the postal system on a firmer footing? Put it this way: Don’t hold your breath.
Efforts to interest Congress or the administration (past or present) on the need for postal reform have a sorry track record. Congress seems determined to avoid anything that has to do with the USPS, and the administration is hoping someone in Congress will let the whole issue blow over.
Dealing with postal issues, you see, is particularly unpleasant when you consider that every member of Congress can count hundreds, if not thousands, of postal employees among his or her constituents. The song on Capitol Hill?
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