In what now seems like an eon ago, business gurus were advising those who were "in search of excellence" to "stick with your knitting." In today's world of glitz and glamour, that may seem like dour, old-fashioned advice. Despite that, it's still true, and it's a message the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) should take to heart.

The Postal Service's role within today's "e-world" is best served when it strives to ensure that the people and the Congress of the United States get the best possible service with what is the communications equivalent of "hard goods," i.e., paper-based communications and packages. Instead of chasing illusory pots of gold at the end of some "dot com" rainbow, the Postal Service should direct its use of technology to improve the quality and affordability of universal mail delivery.

Just recently, the Senate subcommittee with legislative jurisdiction over the Postal Service held a hearing on the Postal Service's e-business and e-commerce initiatives. The testimony the subcommittee heard from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Chairman of the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) were critical of the Postal Service. Even the Deputy Postmaster General had to admit that most of what GAO had said was on point.

Undoubtedly, some of the Postal Service's competitors will endeavor to have a public relations field day with GAO's report. Indeed, the final word in the hearing was hardly spoken before a United Parcel Service (UPS) press release began burning the PR wires with biting criticism.

About one aspect of the Postal Service's e-business strategy, however, there should be no doubt. The Postal Service needs access and a free hand to using the best available electronic communications technology to build the kind of comprehensive postal information platform that can help it fulfill its statutory mail service mandate.

If universal service is to survive, the reliability, the timeliness, and the cost-efficiency of hard copy message and parcel delivery needs to be improved. Without the ability to use modern technological tools to improve the quality and value of conventional mail services, the Postal Service will have virtually no chance of surviving the continued onslaught of its postal and nonpostal competitors.

So, go ahead and question, if you wish, whether the Postal Service should be in the email business or the e-bill payment business, but never question for a second its right--no, its responsibility--to use technology to enhance and improve the quality of services the American people expect.