Kerby Anderson

Cal Thomas says it is “Time to Stamp Out the Post Office.” While I appreciate the desire to make every government agency more efficient, this will be a heavy lift. The Post Office, after all, is mentioned in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

He begins by recommending that we buy our “Forever” stamps soon since the U.S. Postal Service announced another price increase. He remembers when his grandparents sent “penny postcards.” Now domestic post cards will cost you 62 cents.

He tells his story of sending a book from one major East Coast city to another that took 11 days. He also recounts a reader’s story of sending a “Priority Mail” letter that went from Kansas to Pennsylvania to Virginia to New York over a week and half period.

A major reason for rising prices is the postal service’s obligation to its retirees. The post office pension fund has unfunded liabilities that total more than $400 billion and only has assets around $290 billion. Part of the problem is the fact that the postal service is required to pre-fund retiree health benefits unlike other federal agencies.

I am not convinced that Congress will allow the U.S. Post Office to be changed in any significant way. President Trump has proposed shutting it down and rolling it into the Department of Commerce. Another proposal would be to lift the current mail restrictions. Since 1792, the post office has had the exclusive right to deliver letters. Lifting that restriction would open mail deliver to competition and possibly lower prices.

Federal bureaucrats, especially those in the U.S. Post Office, are certain to resist such changes. But the younger generation, used to FedEx and Amazon home deliveries might welcome them.