The Post Office in Limbo

Postmaster General John Potter is asking for more flexibility to make cuts and changes at his troubled agency on the grounds that businesses have often had to retool dramatically to right themselves in troubling economic circumstances. I understand that the Post Office is very much like a business, more so than like a government agency in many way these days. But I wonder if he'd get further by citing other hybrid government-business organizations. I don't have any examples immediately to hand, and I'd be curious to see if folks have strong business cases. But it seems to me like as long as the Post Office is subject to Congressional oversight and large pension obligations, it's going to be constrained in certain major ways, even if it gets more businesslike flexibilities.

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