Association for Postal Commerce

1901 N. Fort Myer Dr., Ste. 401 • Arlington, VA 22209-1609 • Ph: +1 703 524 0096 • Fax: +1 703 524 1871 • Web: http://postcom.org

The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del Polito for Direct magazine.

Those who regularly read this column know that I've devoted a number of my commentaries to the matter of postal reform. Indeed, I can't think of a more ardent advocate for long-term postal legislative reform than I or my PostCom colleagues have been for the past several years. Yes, there is a lot riding on reform. And, yes, without long-term structural change, the postal system that we know today simply cannot be sustained beyond the current decade. Reform is necessary and most definitely would be helpful, but we can't lose sight of the fact that there are other postal venues that desperately need to be explored if our goal is to truly re-engineer America's postal system.

There is a great deal that can be done today without a new postal law. For instance, there is absolutely nothing that prevents the Postal Service and its employees from working out some of the many differences that have made their relationship with each other anything but smooth. Similarly, there is much the Postal Service and the Postal Rate Commission can do (totally within the context of present law) to address many of the complaints that mailers and the President's Commission has noted regarding rates and classification.

The USPS is blessed with a Postmaster General who knows where the Postal Service's "skeletons" have long been buried. He's using his intimate knowledge of postal operations to ferret out some of the cost and waste that has long been a plague to business mailers. Thus far, he's enjoyed success, and he's expressed confidence that there is still more cost-cutting he can do.

But cost-cutting alone won't solve the Postal Service's long-term fiscal challenges, and there is much that can and must be done to reinvigorate mail's value and utility to the businesses that rely on mail as a vehicle for business communication and commerce. For far too long, postal executives have been all too willing to tell you what they believe the Postal Service can't do, rather than what it can do, to satisfy businesses' changing needs. Yet there is nothing in current law that prohibits postal managers from engaging in a little creative thinking.

So, while we all should continue to work as hard as we can for long-term comprehensive postal legislative reform, let's not use the lack of imminence of reform as the excuse for doing none of the things we already have the power and capability to do.