‘Stamp of Approval’ for Postage Hike

The President’s Commission on Privatization recently recommended a dismantling of the Postal Service. The arguments being offered claim the Postal Service would be more cost effective in private hands and the postal system would operate more efficiently in private hands.

I don’t know why the Postal Service must operate on a cost-effective basis. The Postal Service is a branch of our government. We do not demand that our military services be cost effective. The President and his Cabinet do not operate on a cost-effective basis. The Department of the Interior and the Department of State do not operate on a profit or loss basis. Why then the post office?

As a former postal employee I can verify that more than half of the mail passing through our post offices is junk mail: commercial advertisements of one sort or another. This flow of junk mail can be considered a hidden subsidy of business. The rates for junk mail should be increased to discourage this flow.

Can you picture the Postal Service being listed in the nightly business reports alongside pork bellies, corn, wheat and other commodities?

Even though I shrink at the thought of paying 25 cents (for a 3-cent stamp), I think our postal service is the best buy in town. I think it would be most disgraceful to take the Postal Service developed through the years with taxpayers’ dollars and turn the system over to the private sector for personal gain. The current postage stamp bears an image of the American flag. I certainly wouldn’t want this image replaced with a dollar sign.

S.M. ROSEN

Newbury Park