July marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Postal Service, an institution that predates the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. postal system was established by the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1775, thereby laying the groundwork for the modern Postal Service. USPS was later enshrined in the Constitution, with Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 granting Congress the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads.” Today, the Postal Service is a valued institution in many Americans’ lives.
The Postal Service fulfills its statutory mission “to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people” and to deliver mail and packages together six days a week to every address nationwide, no matter where that address may be.
Unlike private carriers, which charge “rural” and “residential delivery” surcharges or refuse delivery to remote communities, the Postal Service has remained true to its public service mission of providing affordable delivery services to all Americans. Recent polling confirms the value Americans assign to this public service, with more than 80% expressing support for maintaining delivery service “six days a week,” and nearly 90% of Americans agreeing that USPS remains an “essential service” in their lives.
Notwithstanding its importance as part of the nation’s critical economic, social, and political infrastructure, USPS faces significant challenges, including financial losses and declining service. Fortunately, proven reform models exist to both save USPS money and improve its service. With the announcement of a new postmaster general earlier this summer, the Postal Service has the opportunity to move quickly in a new direction, reversing its aggressive in-sourcing campaign and partnering with private sector partners to enhance efficiency, improve service, and ensure delivery can be maintained at the lowest cost to American businesses and consumers.
The same recent poll found that most Americans, when informed of the USPS’s financial struggles, support public–private partnerships as a way to ensure continued USPS delivery to all communities while also reducing costs. These partnerships preserve the Postal Service’s ability to fulfill its universal service obligation while leveraging private sector efficiencies for certain functions like transportation and processing before mail and packages go out for “last mile delivery.” Such partnerships have provided a proven model for decades, but they have not been fully leveraged.
In order to reduce costs and improve service performance, USPS should immediately reverse its current policy of spending money it doesn’t have on things it doesn’t need. Specifically, USPS should freeze spending on transportation and processing facilities which it cannot afford, and which are duplicative of those that already exist in the private sector.
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The Postal Service should also cease its aggressive in-sourcing efforts. Rather than try to do everything itself, even though it is more expensive and time-consuming for it to do so, USPS should focus on its essential function, last mile delivery of mail and packages. USPS should incentivize businesses that use the system to enter mail and packages as close to their destination as possible, as this will dramatically reduce USPS costs and improve its service performance.
By focusing on last-mile delivery and leveraging public-private partnerships, the Postal Service can continue to do what it does best — delivery for all — in a fiscally responsible manner for years to come.
John McHugh served as the 21st United States Secretary of the Army and represented New York’s 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He is currently the Chairman of the Package Coalition.