WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, released the following statement reacting to the advisory opinion on Postal Service delivery frequency released earlier today by the Postal Regulatory Commission:
“While I have serious concerns about the length of time it took the Postal Regulatory Commission to produce this advisory opinion, I welcome the commissioners’ views on this proposal from the Postal Service and look forward to studying their findings more closely.
“While I’m not an advocate for eliminating Saturday delivery, and I continue to question whether taking such a step would be a good move at this time, I do believe that decisions on operational matters such as delivery frequency should be handled by postal management. At a time when the Postal Service is struggling with record budget deficits and facing insolvency, it makes no sense, in my opinion, to tie their hands when it comes to making difficult operational decisions. A significant amount of money could be saved if Saturday delivery is eliminated. I hope it isn’t necessary, but taking this step at the right time, and in the right way, might very well be a necessary component of a comprehensive postal recovery plan. It would be irresponsible for Congress, as it does now, to stand in the way and act like a 535-member Board of Directors. No real business could ever function under that type of governance and it’s unrealistic to think that the Postal Service would be well served by that type of micromanagement.
“That’s why last year I introduced a comprehensive postal reform bill – the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act – which would fix the Postal Service’s broken retiree benefits system, streamline operations, and allow it to offer additional products and services that could bring in additional revenue. It requires all parties – postal management, employees and customers – to make sacrifices. It also gets Congress out of the way by providing the flexibility and tools necessary to address the problems plaguing the Postal Service in an effective way. While the Senate wasn’t able to pass this much needed legislation in the 111th Congress, I plan to reintroduce the bill in the coming weeks.”
i as a 27 plus year letter carrier for the postal service believe that Senator Carper should reintroduce his idea to the Senate now. 5 day delivery is only part of the language in his bill. The entire bill should be passed because the postal service is in distress financially. Business is being lost to technology delivering 6 days. One less day of delivery is not critical to the nation anymore, and if there are overpayments to the pensions, the postal service should have some say in how this money is used. Bottomline, Senator Carpers bill would address many of the problems facing the post office now, and lay a more solid foundation for the future.