What's bad about our postal service is mostly in our heads. The truth is, it's a model of efficiency. It makes BIG news when a postal carrier ditches mail somewhere instead of delivering it, because it's so rare. Of course it's tragic when someone gets a letter that could have changed his or her life for the better thirty years late, and each of those cases always makes national news, also because it's so rare. "Going postal" has become a synonym for "going ballistic," but on a per-employee basis, acts of violence in the workplace are below average in the postal service.
There is one thing that's a major pain, in my opinion.
It's not the honesty of the employees. In some places, it's commonplace for postal employees to help themselves to valuables sent by mail, but in spite of how curiously commonplace crime is in our advanced nation, it almost never happens here. When it does, the thief can get up to five years in prison for the first offense.
The rates are very favorable. As I've said elsewhere, try to get UPS or Fed-Ex to deliver a letter across the nation for you in two days for forty-three cents, or whatever the rate is today.
And that leads to what I'd like to change. I hate not knowing what it will cost me to mail a letter next week or next month. In other advanced nations, the cost of a first-class stamp doesn't change every few weeks. Our representatives made the same mistake here they made by "protecting" Canadian geese, that now need protection about as much as mosquitoes: They saw a need, they acted on it, and when the solution backfired, they were paralyzed.
In this case, it's not the USPS' fault. It's congress'. Postal rates are indexed to the actual cost of providing the service. Terrific idea. I'm in favor of indexing. Part of my retirement income is Social Security. A small part, in fact, but it helps, and there are periodic increases as the purchasing power of my SS checks goes down. But what I get this month is the same as last month, whether my local supermarket is selling buns and hot dogs and beer for the same prices or not.
Yeah, there are now "forever" stamps, and they're a convenience, just not a good investment. Theoretically, I could buy thousands of dollars worth of forever stamps, and in that way, my cost to mail the first ounce of a first-class letter would not go up until I'd used up my supply. But I'd be depriving myself of the use of that money for other purposes.
Here's a simple idea, although I'm sure congress can make it complicated: Make the next increase to an even number, like fifty cents. LEAVE it there, and leave all other fees at steady rates also. Initially, that will provide a surplus. As costs increase, the USPS can operate on the money it continues to take in, plus the surplus. Before the surplus is depleted, raise the fees again, this time to sixty cents for the first ounce, with corresponding increases for everything else, and thus begin the cycle again.
I'm sure some people won't like this for the obvious reason that it will cost extra at first. Over the long haul, it would average out, however, and would remove a major nuisance from our private and business lives.
And then we could think about that other problem with our postal service: Junk mail!