13 November 2012

Postal Profits

I have posted previously on the current straitened financial condition of the United States Postal Service (see here). I suspect that the surfeit of political mailings this election season might help this quarter's bottom line but the Postal Service is fast approaching its own fiscal cliff. And, with only Congress able to free the USPS from an out-of-date business model, one might not have much hope.

The cash flow problem of America's post contrasts with what I read today here in The Telegraph, one of London's leading newspapers. It seems the Royal Post is not only solvent it's turning a handsome profit, which means that the current Conservative-lead coalition government will be privatizing (or privatising, if you prefer) it in the near future.

Would that America's so-called conservatives seek a similar goal for our postal service. Freeing the USPS from maintaining unprofitable post offices, closing unneeded mail distribution centers, and opening the door to restructured labor contracts could lead to a money-making enterprise. One might expect that Democratic party members, beholden as they are to public sector unions, would oppose sensible business measures but one doesn't here much from the Republican camp either.

Speaking of prophets, were I one (and I'm not) I suspect that we won't be seeing a privatized USPS in the near future.

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