A way to save the postal service?

The U. S. Postal Service has long been an integral part of rural America. In fact, it's been written that Rural Free Delivery was the brainchild of a Nebraska newspaperman, but it took the impetus of a 19th century postmaster general to get the idea off the ground.

From the very beginning, it's been a mutually beneficial relationship as RFD opened the Midwest to new avenues of commerce and allowed the old Post Office Department to reduce its costs by closing thousands of no longer needed post offices.

Today, perhaps the best illustration of the Postal Service's commitment to its universal service obligation can be found in rural America. The commitment to deliver mail to every address throughout the country, including places that are hard to reach, is unwavering -- but times are changing, and the Sears-Roebuck catalogues that once filled rural mailboxes have now been replaced by all that the Internet has to offer.

Undoubtedly,the Internet's effect on the mail has been dramatic and unprecedented -- and that, coupled with the recent recession, has caused the Postal Service to re-think its business proposition so that the service we've enjoyed for all these years can continue well into the future.

The reality is that during the last three years, mail volume has dropped by more than 40 billion pieces and most experts believe that it will not come back. Consequently, it's critical that the Postal Service right size its network and delivery schedule.

It is also true that we have excess plant capacity, insufficient mail and more employees than we need. We're moving on capacity realignment and have asked the Congress to allow us to go to a delivery schedule of five days per week.

Such a move would reduce Postal costs by some $3.1 billion per year, a critical saving in these times of reduced volumes. We are further encouraged by the results of several national polls (Gallup, Rasmussen, Washington Post), all of which show that between 65 and 70 percent of all Americans are accepting of a five-day delivery schedule, if it means a stronger Postal Service in the future.

Nonetheless, we are keenly aware that the elimination of Saturday delivery may cause some inconvenience to some of our customers, but we see it a necessary step so that we may continue to serve rural America well into the future.