High-Tech Group: US Postal Service Should Stick To Mail

A high-tech and telecom industry group today took a swipe at the U.S. Postal Service for its attempts to compete with “fledgling e-commerce” companies while enjoying privileged governmental status. “We do not see any reason for a government agency to be competing against private firms in the vibrant, competitive world of e-commerce, and wonder how much money will they have to lose on these undertakings before they decide to stick to their core mission of delivering the mail,” said Ed Black, the Computer & Communications Industry Association’s president and CEO. Black’s statement was released on the same day that the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on USPS’ financial state. The statement said the committee should “question the representatives of the Postal Service (on) why they have squandered tens of millions of dollars in revenue derived from its postal monopoly on misguided efforts to compete with the private sector.” Black said the USPS, by its own projections, doesn’t “expect to turn a profit on … e-commerce services for several years. They just received a rate increase, are on the verge of another, and yet they continue to pour money into unsuccessful ventures that compete against private industry.” Black also said that the USPS has a “leg up” on competitors because it is not subject to Sherman Antitrust Act or other private corporation restrictions, creating an “anti-competitive threat.” Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Ranking Democrat Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., today received testimony from Postmaster General William Henderson, who said that the USPS must generate $68 billion per year to cover costs. Henderson said that the USPS must change to remain competitive with private shipping companies, because, “on a practical level, boundaries between the mail and other services are crumbling.” Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.