The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del
Polito for Direct magazine. The views expressed are the author's.
After having sat on the sidelines during the past six years' debate
over the need to change the legislative framework within which our
postal system is operated, the Governors of the U.S. Postal Service
finally have awakened to the reality that postal reform is desparately
needed. There's a part of me that wonders "where have these people
been," particularly since they, above all others, have been privy to the
Postal Service's innermost secrets concerning its operational and fiscal
performance. How could anyone with such a bird's eye seat of American
things postal not have come to an earlier awareness that reform
should be foremost on the nation's postal policy agenda?
Why, however, should anyone judge the postal Governors harshly, when
those of us who have witnessed first-hand the many short-comings of
today's postal system, and have contented ourselves with doing nothing.
There's been a lot of talk about postal reform, but far too many
of the "leaders" of the mailing community did very little to make reform
a reality.
But, enough of the blame-laying, for there should be some
comfort in knowing that the "awareness" of the need for reform has grown
sufficiently for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors to
acknowledge that no amount of "cost-cutting" or "break-through
productivity" (whatever the dickens that means) will get the Postal
Service out of its current fiscal fix.
By now, it has dawned on the Governors that successive rounds of
greater than inflation postal rate increases are going to worsen, not
improve, the Postal Service's self-sustainability. Of course, mailers
have been saying this for years, and largely have been dismissed as
self-interested grousers. (Up...up...there I go again with the
blame-laying....)
The task before all of us who have a stake in the viability of an
affordable, reliable, universal mail delivery system is formidable. We
now have a new Presidential Administration and a new Congress. With one
or two exceptions, most in the Administration or the Congress know
nothing more about postal than how to lick and stick a stamp. The level
of their understanding will have to grow considerably more than that in
a very short time, if they are to play the role that they need to play
to lead our postal system from a sure fiscal demise.
And for those who style themselves as "leaders" within the postal
community, well, this is the time to forget the styling and get on with
the task of leading. There's been enough rhetoric to fill a library.
Now's the time for sure action.