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IT CAN BE DONE, IT SHOULD BE DONE: Privatizing the U.S. Post Office — Part II

Nearly two years ago I advocated the privatization of the United States Postal Service in one of my articles. Now I will focus on the specifics.

As mentioned in my previous article, the Postal Service can be sold to a private entity, and that such an entity be American-owned and American-operated. That means do not sell the Postal Service to the Chinese, Saudis, etc. In addition, it can be sold at a reasonable price, perhaps based on its recent annual budget (or at least a portion of it).

Other suggestions I mentioned in my previous article included ending the Postal Service’s monopoly on first-class and standard mail, as well as eliminating the Postal Regulatory Commission and the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, the possible consolidation of some of the post offices, and the Postal Service’s being closed on Saturdays.

Here are some additional suggestions:

— Since the Postal Service is exempt from paying property taxes, keeping it exempt after it is privatized might be a good idea until it is out of the red (i.e. a grace period of two years, maybe five).

— The Postal Service is also exempt from receiving parking tickets. This exemption can be done away with.

— Eliminate the Postal Service’s unions, which are partly responsible for it being in the red.

— Repeal the law forbidding the Postal Service from closing any of its offices for solely economic reasons. Once that is done, the Postal Service can close around 2,000 of its 31,000 + post offices (80% of them have lost money) and continue to establish contract post offices.

— Replace any federal healthcare and pension requirements and replace them with private sector options (which would cost less).

— The Postal Service has also suffered financial setbacks due to the digital age (i.e. the internet, email). So the Postal Service needs to become more technologically advanced, and that includes going digital. Doing so would reduce delivery costs.

— Like any private entity, allow people (American citizens only) to invest in the Postal Service- i.e. put it on the Stock Market.

Now some of you out there might point out that privatizing the Postal Service would require an amendment to the Constitution. That is not the case. The United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8) authorizes Congress to establish post offices and post roads, but it does not require Congress to do so. Keep in mind the post offices in the early days of America were private entities, and would continue to be private until the big government advocates of the Twentieth Century came along. Thus, a Constitutional Amendment is not required in order to privatize the Postal Service.

Government action is all that is needed.

Call it the Postal Service Privatization & Reform Act.

Image: http://www.yetanotherphotoblog.de/index.php?showimage=130

Andrew Linn

Andrew Linn is a member of the Owensboro Tea Party and a former Field Representative for the Media Research Center. An ex-Democrat, he became a Republican one week after the 2008 Presidential Election. He has an M.A. in history from the University of Louisville, where he became a member of the Phi Alpha Theta historical honors society. He has also contributed to examiner.com and Right Impulse Media.

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