Postal ills and solutions

Over the last several years, there have been numerous proposals to restructure or totally reinvent our country's postal system. Our future postal system will probably be vastly different from the system that we have today. Read Will the postal system as we know it be stamped out?

I would postulate that majority of the mail that is handled by the U.S. Postal Service falls into two categories: advertisements and periodicals. At least that's what it seems like by reviewing the snail mail that arrives at our house. Most of what arrives in people's mail boxes ends up in their trash cans in less than a week's time (if not on the same day it arrives). What about the fuel used to deliver the mail? What is this doing to our environment? What is the production and disposal of so much paper doing to our Earth?

With the costs of delivering mail continuing to rise due to growth of delivery points and increasing fuel costs, a number of solutions have been offered to keep costs in check. Privatizing the entire system or outsourcing portions of it may both seem viable solutions, neither directly addresses those two factors or the coincidental environmental issues (more paper in the system and more fuel burned to deliver it).

Here are some of the solutions that I like:

1. Stop offering "bulk mail" rates. The "bulk" is killing us. If businesses put a lot of mail into the system, they should pay at least what it actually costs to deliver it.
   
2. Allow addressees to "Return to Sender" any unwanted unopened mail, and charge the original sender for the full cost of return postage. This would financially inspire businesses to remove addresses from their mailing lists. Official government mail would be exempt.
   
3. Stop delivering regular U.S.P.S. mail for free. Everyone would have to pick up their mail at centralized locations (the local post office or p.o. box location). These locations would provide convenient recycling bins, as well as "Return to Sender" drop boxes (see #2 above). Anyone wanting their mail delivered to their door would pay a periodic fee for the privilege (and the fuel and personnel cost) of having their mail delivered to their door. The elderly, disabled, and certain lower-income groups would be have their home delivery subsidized.
   
4. Treat periodicals as third class mail. Deliver it as low priority and charge its delivery by weight. If a publisher wants their product delivered more quickly, they would pay first class postage, including being charged by weight.
   
5. Charge appropriately for first class mail delivery. The .41 we pay now does not cover the cost of delivering a piece of mail to your door. The Federal Government is subsidizing the Postal Service. (If you don't believe me consider the recent bill to bail out the U.S.P.S. health care fund.) Privatizing the Service would put an end to that, but so would treating the Service as a fully self-funded self-sustaining enterprise within the Federal Government infrastructure.
   
6. Continue to offer subsidized mail rates to non-profits. However, they too should be subject to the full costs of the "Return to Sender" service I postulated in #2 above. This would encourage non-profits to carefully vet their mailing lists too.
   
7. End Saturday delivery as a free service of the U.S.P.S. Post offices could still be open on Saturday mornings for pick-ups and counter service. However, mail should only be delivered on Saturdays as a premium service that the sender pays for.
   

While businesses and non-profits would argue that some of the above solutions would cause them great difficulty and expense, I believe they all need to be considered. Would these 'solutions' increase the incidence of unwanted electronic communications (spam) and the nuisance of telemarketing? Yes. But, as a nation, we are also in the process of addressing these issues. Businesses spend a great deal of money on mass advertising that usually has a low return. Perhaps it is time for all those folks with Marketing degrees to show how useful their degrees can be. I'm sure there are a number of bright stars in the field that can offer creative ways to reach fertile target audiences for specific product and service offerings.

In addition, the above policies would encourage businesses and consumers to utilize electronic and automated payment to a much higher degree.

We live in a great country. Our postal system is one of the best in the world. However, we can still have a great postal system without fiscal and environmental waste. We need to stop driving the postal equivalent of a Mercedes SUV and start driving a hybrid.