(April 12) -- The U.S. Postal Service is not financially viable and looks likely to undergo some radical restructuring.
Congress, which oversees the USPS, is considering cutting Saturday mail delivery, eliminating some jobs and closing some post offices. A new report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, obtained by The Washington Post, says the Postal Service business model is "not viable" and recommends to Congress that the proposed changes be made immediately
"If no action is taken, risks of larger USPS losses, rate increases and taxpayer subsides will increase," the report says. This is the latest sign that the Postal Service will have to undergo a radical overhaul to survive.
The GAO endorsed the five-day delivery week but encouraged even more extensive cuts, including hiring more part-time workers, raising prices, closing some post offices and even outsourcing delivery routes to private contractors.
Postmaster General John Potter said he's prepared to make the necessary cuts. "We've studied this significantly. The time for study is over; now's the time for action," he told the Post.
The Postal Service may not be financially sustainable, but news of its restructuring has sparked a debate over privatization.
At the conservative National Review, for example, one blogger called outsourcing of the Post Office "the model for the future." A Washington Post poll conducted last month found that most Americans support cutting Saturday service to put the Postal Service on better financial footing.
From some quarters, though, the Postal Service's decline has elicited more sentimental responses.
Last week, The Nation, a liberal magazine, called the USPS "a national treasure" that must continue to be public "if we are to maintain the essential infrastructures of democracy."
The GAO report is due to be released later today on the agency's Web site. 1|1|Just like in lots of business,lot of money wasted.Not all but every other one package that I mail goes to Atlanta then to Menphis,Tn then back|greenthumbs|greenthumbs@charter.net|07:55:53|04/13/2010|
to Atlanta then to Nauvoo,ala where it take 4 days.Some goes to Atlants then to Nauvoo,Ala & takes 3 days.I put a tracking number on them & have taken the print out sheet & gave to my postmaster to show him where money was being wasted.