I have written about this previously but I am getting more and more concerned that the Postal Service will go the way of the dodo bird. Like virtually every other part of the legitimate role of government, the Postal Service is and has been under attack by conservatives. The perpetrators of the assault are the same crew that have been trying to privatize everything that is standing.
Organizations such as the right-wing Cato Institute and their allies in Congress wish to see the US Postal Service weakened to the point that it ceases to exist. Then they would have the mail handled through privately owned operations.
There are many reasons that we should be concerned about this attack. First, postal delivery is actually a Constitutional right. It is there in the Constitution. Now, our conservative friends will throw their hands in the air and exclaim that they are not challenging the Constitution. Rather, they will argue, mail delivery can, allegedly, be handled more efficiently by private outfits. There is no particular reason to believe that private companies can handle the mail more efficiently than the USPS.
With the USPS we are guaranteed that everything of a certain weight gets delivered to specific sites in the U.S.A. for a given price. In other words, a letter weighing one ounce does not cost more if it is mailed from Baltimore to Spokane or from Baltimore to New York. With privatization we can be guaranteed that the cost of mail would vary according to where the mail is being sent.
A second reason for concern has to do with the workforce. The Postal Service has been an important employer of African-Americans and it has provided employment at good wages with good benefits.
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