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Return to Article: Postal Service needs more flexibility, private sector execs say

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  I'm at a loss about the Postal Service. Private companies are constantly pointing out that the Postal Service isn't flexible enough to compete, then turn around and complain about how they can't compete with its monopoly. Direct mailings have been around since before the Post Office was semi-privatized. Direct mailing companies have just as much right to be in business as newspapers - it's not the Postal Service that's in the wrong - but they're the ones taking the heat. The same with package service. If UPS and/or FedEx won't deliver a certain type of package or into an area that they don't service (and there are such instances and places), then they can't complain that the Postal Service can and will - but they do! Perhaps, instead of privitizing our mail service, we should let the government reabsorb the Post Office and let them do the job they were designed to do - Deliver the mail to every man, woman, and child as necessary in this country. Somehow, that seemed to work for years before the semi-privitization.

  Michelle Zellich Posted March 12, 2004 8:43 AM
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  I agree that it is imperative that the USPS get into the 21st century with the rest of us. One of the highest costs associated with the postal increases is always the workers compensation losses. The postal service has a higher loss ratio than any police organization in the country. The Federal Employee Compensation Administration (FECA), that administers the postal compensation program, is exceptionally liberal in its application of the program. The postal service has tried repeatedly to avoid these costs by withdrawing from the FECA program but has been stifled but congress and the influence of the unions. The first step in improving the flexibility of the USPS would be to allow the agency to withdraw from this compensation coverage and become self insured or covered by a private contactor subject to the state laws where the work related injuries occur.

  KT McCall

  Kt Mccall Posted March 12, 2004 8:38 AM
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  Let's see, we've got the execs of FedEx and UPS telling Congress the postal service should be shut down or run differently. What's wrong with this picture?

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 12, 2004 8:02 AM