Another Postal Rate Hike

On May 12th the postal service will raise rates yet again to offset higher operating costs. A one-ounce letter will now cost .42 cents and other services such as Priority mail will go up at least .20 cents for the first pound. A continuing theme bellowed by the postal service over the past several years has been, "automation, automation, automation." Postal management routinely comments about how their new high-speed machines can do the work of thousands of mail sorting clerks. If that´s true, then it begs the obvious question; if these machines save so much time, money and labor, then why hasn´t the price of a first class stamp gone down? In fact, high-speed sorting machines have been in operation for the past several years, yet postage rates keep rising.

One large reason is the inefficiency of the postal system itself. Take a typical Postmaster for example. They are allotted up to half a day a week for, "personal time." In small offices, he or she must be replaced during normal business hours by a clerk to keep the office open. Now add in an average of $20.00 an hour per clerk, times 43,000 offices in the US.

Another glaring example is meetings. Each postal district typically has a couple hundred small offices scattered about its perimeter. At least once a month face-to-face meetings are scheduled. They are usually in held the district office and all Postmasters are supposed to attend. In many cases the distance to these meetings exceeds a hundred miles. Of course each Postmaster gets paid mileage at the government rate for making the trip. Once again a clerk will need to fill in back at the office, usually for the entire day. The sad reality is that each post office is already hooked into the internet via an internal postal intranet. These meetings can easily be held via net conferences saving millions of dollars.

Each year Postmasters are given at least three days paid leave, (above and beyond their normal 3-6 weeks a year), to attend what is known as the, "Postmasters Convention." This meeting is typically held in a place like Las Vegas or some other major city. Let´s add up 43,000 post offices times three days of paying other employees to fill in back at the office. More millions wasted. Once again, the internet could easily allow them to share whatever knowledge they need to exchange at these conventions.

Another interesting fact about postal operations is the liberty Postmasters are given with regard to time off. Many post offices are allotted a certain amount of labor to assist them in daily operations. These hours vary depending on the size of the office. If Postmasters operate under their allotted time, they are not questioned. Obviously some weeks are busier then others, however many Postmasters will take additional time off during slow times to ensure they continue using their allotted clerk labor. They fear loosing this additional help if they show it´s possible to operate with less.

Over the years we have heard about how labor and transportation costs continue to climb. It´s used as justification to raise the price of a stamp, yet the primary problem is the management practices of the postal service.

It´s obvious that the postal service is never going to clean up its act unless forced to. Perhaps a general outcry by the public will encourage them to take a long hard look at the way they operate. What can we do?

1.We should insist that our legislators conduct a full-blown independent audit of the way the postal service operates. Bring in a few real experts to streamline the entire operation.

2. Start paying for bills on-line. While we are at it, let´s encourage our debtors to notify us monthly via email instead of through snail mail.

3. Another dirty little secret of the postal service is junk mail. Over 40% of the revenue generated is from the kind of mail that most of us simply do not want. We should refuse it and contact the companies putting out there and tell them to stop wasting our time.

4. Close that money-sucking PO Box and put up a mailbox at home. It is much cheaper all around to have one mail carrier drive around town making several deliveries then it is to have 500 people commute to the post office daily. Companies like www.ruralmailboxes.com have many inexpensive mailboxes to choose from. Why waste your money and fuel by commuting to the post office several times a week to pick up your mail? After all, if you have to pay a whopping .42 cents for every letter, the least the post office can do is deliver it all the way to your mailbox.

Who knows, maybe someday the post office will become obsolete. Thanks to on-line bill paying such a possibility may already be on the horizon. If the postal service wants to stay in business, perhaps they should begin to realize that raising the cost of a stamp should be the last resort.