17 November, 2010

Here's another great article I found in the "Morning Report" while researching information for another article I've been thinking of writing. It seems someone is actually thinking like me out there somewhere.  We all need to let our newly-elected congressmen  know that now is not the time for grandiose, sweeping new gestures made just to give their constituents the idea that they are doing something.

MESSAGE TO THE INCOMING 112TH CONGRESS (Opinion)

The following has been contributed to AmericaPost by Lyle Ryter, a long-time veteran of Capitol Hill, who serves presently as the chief staff executive for the Association of Priority Mail Users. The views and opinions expressed here are solely the author's.

At the inception of every new Congress, public and private interest groups scurry around to assemble their agenda for the incoming freshmen and returning members. This is my briefing book for you and it will be very brief.

I am not employed by the Postal Service but I do have the following message. THE POSTAL SERVICE IS NOT BANKRUPT. Despite the news headlines that last year the Postal Service lost $8.5 billion, you might think about stepping back to learn the realities behind the headlines. Separating sensational headlines from reality will be the first and most difficult challenges that you face in your new jobs and for those returning for another term.

Contrary to media hype, the American public is being served well by this unique business/public enterprise that was created out of the former government office, the Post Office Department, and despite endless meddling by Congress in its operations is in the process of transforming itself into a modern corporation.

Now this may come as another surprise. The Postal Service is self financing. To quote a recent study, the Postal Service operates independent of taxpayer support. As you face postal proposals in the 112th Congress, including those of retiree health benefits, you will be examining nothing else than payments by private citizens and companies as well as contributions from the Postal Services to these funds for services rendered. This means that, with the exception of payments for programs mandated by Congress, the Postal Service funds itself through payments made by the American public for its services, not, I repeat tax payer dollars.

This may be difficult to grasp since practically everything else you will deal with has to do with the distribution of congressionally appropriated tax payer dollars. The Postal Service is a large ongoing public/private enterprise. It generates annually billions of dollars. It deserves the respect that you would accord one of the largest corporations in America. It processes close to fifty percent of the world’s mail every year. With 623,000 employees, it is one of the largest labor forces in America and has offices in every state and every congressional district. It is regularly viewed by the public as among the most reliable public organizations.

At the same time, it has reduced its labor force by one hundred thousand employees over the past three years. Do you know of any other firm publicly or privately held that has achieved a record comparable to this? It services 150 million delivery points every day with the largest civilian fleet in the world. No private or publicly held company comes even close to the daily distribution network of the Postal Service or is likely to in the future.

IT’S CRITICS POINT IN ASTONISHMENT AT ITS DEFICITS. Ironically the greatest single element of these deficits is the federally mandated payments imposed on the Postal Service. These payments are practically unheard of for any other federal agency or private company. They shackle management decisions by preempting investments in new capital projects needed to modernize the Postal Service. They are in a real sense confiscatory payments, required by the bureaucrats at the Office of Management and Budget that so many of the Postal Service critics rail against regularly. Were the same mandates to be imposed on the private sector, the same result would occur, large scale borrowings. That would eventually result in destroying American small and big business alike.

Were the Postal Service to adopt the same current practices of the private sector in financing future retiree health benefits payments, the Postal Service could reduce its borrowings to a negligible amount. This manner of financing the retiree health benefits has already been requested by Postmaster General Potter several times over the last 12 months. Legislation to be introduces this year, at no cost to the taxpayer, resolves the bulk of the oppressive and unnecessary borrowings that make the sensational headlines. Expeditious action by you, getting familiar with the real issues behind the headlines could be the first real achievement of the 112th Congress.

To the members of the 112th: "Good Luck!"