Copyright 1999 The Times-Picayune Publishing Co.
The Times-Picayune
October 10, 1999 Sunday, ORLEANS
SECTION: MONEY; Pg. F1
LENGTH: 743 words
HEADLINE:
NATIONAL MAIL COALITION'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG;
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE UNFIT,
GROUP SAYS
BYLINE: By Greg Thomas Business writer
BODY:
Scott Macdonald and Ted Green go postal on a
daily basis, with an expense account to boot.
But aside from the
possible paper cut one could get sifting through the reams of literature they
distribute blasting the U.S. Postal Service, there's little chance of bloodshed
in the wake of their two-man propaganda campaign across the nation.
Macdonald and Green are genteel hired guns of the Coalition to Make Our
First Class Mail FIRST CLASS -- the capital letters are theirs for emphasis --
who set up shop Wednesday at the Old Metairie Library to wage war on what they
see as the Evil Empire: a fat-cat, scandal-riddled and underregulated U.S.
Postal Service.
They complain about the 1998 retirement party for
outgoing Post Master General Marvin Runyon, which cost about $124,000.
Other core issues include the advertising budget of the government
agency, $9 million slated for bonuses for Postal Service executives and the
selling of retail items such as ties and jackets at post offices.
Macdonald and Green have a few other problems with the mail, like the
monopoly the service has on first-class mail, the cost of stamps, its tax-exempt
advantage over competitors and pending legislation that would allow for
automatic future rate hikes.
"Each 1-cent increase in a postage stamp is
$1 billion in revenue to the Postal Service," said coalition director Ted Green,
who stood in shirtsleeves Wednesday as a trickle of inquiring minds stopped by
after dropping off library books to find out about the coalition.
The
group came to New Orleans because newly elected U.S. Rep. David Vitter,
R-Metairie, sits on the Governmental Reform and Oversight
Committee, which will consider House Bill 22. The bill would give the
Postal Service broad discretion in establishing future rate
increases.
The coalition obviously opposes the bill, Macdonald said.
Macdonald and Green crisscross the nation holding informational seminars
and attempting to draw attention to their cause, which they say is backed by 200
organizations representing 5 million Americans. Some of the organizations are
competitors of the Postal Service, like the United Parcel Service. The
membership list includes a wide range of organizations, like the Older Persons
Action Group of Alaska, Maine Potato Growers, Missouri Cattlemen's Association
and the Peoria Area Blind People's Center.
Heavy hitters on the list
include the National Association of Realtors, National Dairy Council and the
Association of Retired Americans.
"Every time the postal rates go up 1
cent, the National Federation of the Blind (a member of the coalition) sees its
mailing costs go up $100,000 a year," Macdonald said. "That's money not going to
services."
Local postal officials are aware of the group, and have
little to say about it, but are quick to counter with performance surveys that
they say show the Postal Service is doing its job in stellar fashion.
New Orleans Postmaster Philip Holland, who oversees 3,500 postal
employees serving the areas with 700 and 701 Zip codes -- all of New Orleans and
most of Jefferson Parish -- said surveys show that residential customers give
post office services a 90 percent overall approval rating.
While
competitors may want to erode the monopoly benefit the U.S. Postal Service
enjoys, Holland says the service "is mandated by Congress to deliver to every
person in the United States; every citizen has the right to have first class
mail service. We're the best in the industrialized world and have the cheapest
rates in the industrial world."
Holland said if the service were
privatized, companies could cherry-pick which areas they'd like to serve and
avoid those they don't.
Holland oversees the delivering of mail to
252,000 households, serving more than 600,000 postal customers, he said. About
3.5 million pieces of mail pass through the local system daily, Holland said,
with the holiday peak season seeing about 5 million pieces of mail daily.
Sam Bolin, head of public affairs for the Southwest and based in Dallas,
said recent independent surveys show 94 percent of first-class mail in the
metropolitan area is delivered overnight, which matches the national percentage.
Bolin said the low turnout to Make Our First Class Mail FIRST CLASS in
Metairie says something about customer satisfaction with the U.S. Postal
Service. Bolin said the service has seen a drastic reduction in consumer
complaints in the past four over five years.
GRAPHIC:
Ted Green, director of the Coalition to Make Our First Class Mail FIRST CLASS,
sorts through handouts Wednesday at the Old Metairie Library. Green said his
coalition is the largest one involving U.S. Postal Service customers,
representing more than 5 million Americans. [COLOR] STAFF PHOTO BY DONALD STOUT
LOAD-DATE: October 10, 1999 
