MENTION OF STUDYING THE POSSIBILITY OF A SHORTER MAIL WEEK BRINGS OUTCRY IN CONGRESS

MENTION OF STUDYING THE POSSIBILITY OF A SHORTER MAIL WEEK BRINGS OUTCRY IN CONGRESS, ELSEWHERE
From PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, April 5th, 2001

By David Ho ASSOCIATED PRESS Lawmakers came down hard on the U.S. Postal Service's plan to explore
eliminating Saturday mail delivery, with one House member calling it a "fatal
mistake" that could destroy the agency. "This is one of the most self-defeating proposals I've heard in my life,"
Rep. Bob Barr (R., Ga.) said yesterday. "If there's one thing the Postal
Service could do that would guarantee its demise, it's eliminate service on
Saturday." Facing $2 billion to $3 billion in projected losses this year, the Postal
Service has announced numerous cutbacks over the last months. On Tuesday,
agency officials said they would investigate the possibility of ending
virtually all Saturday mail delivery and closing some post offices and
facilities. The changes would require congressional approval. Postmaster General William J. Henderson told the House Government Reform
Committee yesterday that the poor economy and declining mail volume had hit
the agency hard. Henderson urged changes in the law to give the post office more flexibility
in setting rates and services to contend with rising costs. It now takes
almost a year to change rates. Postal managers are preparing to apply this summer to postal overseers for
a rate increase, to take effect next year; in January, the price of
first-class mail went up a penny, to 34 cents. "If we take the necessary steps now to fix the problems, maybe we can avoid
a full-blown crisis in the next few years," said the committee chairman, Rep.
Dan Burton (R., Ind.). "More cost-containment options must be examined,'' he said. "Nothing
should be off the table. Another rate increase should be the last option, not
the first." While most committee members agreed that overhauling the Postal Service was
long overdue, several criticized the idea of ending Saturday delivery. "Reducing the number of delivery days will have a devastating impact on our
economy," said Rep. Constance Morella (R., Md.). Henderson, who is leaving the Postal Service next month, said his agency
was just conducting an internal study to determine possible savings from a
five-day delivery schedule. "A decision to curtail Saturday delivery has not been made," he said. "We
have a problem that our customers are saying: 'Don't raise rates. Don't raise
rates.' And we have to look at every possible alternative." Barr said even the study was a bad idea. "I think you're making a serious mistake even suggesting that you're going
to open that can of worms," he said. "You would be fundamentally altering what
the Postal Service means to American citizens if you do that, and I think that
would be a fatal mistake." Agency critics and groups representing postal workers also condemned the
study. Sam Parmelee, a vice president of the National Rural Letter Carriers
Association, said reduced service could cause other problems. "The day you don't deliver mail, it stacks up," said Parmelee, whose group
represents about 100,000 rural and suburban carriers. "Then you've got this
huge volume of mail that some carriers won't be able to fit in their vehicles
when they go out on Monday." The American Postal Workers Union, which has 366,000 members nationwide,
also said it would oppose such changes. Robert McLean, director of the Virginia-based Mailers Council, a coalition
of mailing businesses, said the agency must "find ways of managing within its
current legislative framework to reduce expenses." The Postal Service receives no taxpayer money for its operations. It
remains a government agency and operates under laws set by Congress. At the hearing, the General Accounting Office said it had added the Postal
Service's restructuring plans to its "high-risk" list of troubled government
programs. A separate statement submitted by the Postal Service's inspector general
said hundreds of millions of dollars had been lost over the last four years
because of waste, mismanagement and fraud. Among the problems cited by the Postal Service are wage increases higher
than the rate of inflation, rising fuel costs, greater competition, and
increasing use of electronic alternatives such as the Internet.
STEPHEN J. BOITANO / Associated Press – William J. Henderson, the postmaster
general, said the poor economy and declining mail volume had hit the agency
hard. Postal workers were among those condemning a study on ending Saturday
service.
Copyright Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. 2001PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 05th April 2001