USPS Folly Was Foreshadowed by Confederate Post Office
This article is for subscribers only.
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The announcement yesterday that theU.S. Postal Service will cease Saturday delivery starting inAugust highlights the core paradox of the system: that it shouldboth serve a universal civic function and generate enoughrevenue to sustain its enormously expensive operation.
Since 1971, the postal service has been run as a business-like independent government agency. As e-mail and other forms ofdigital communication have proliferated and health-care costshave soared, the system’s finances have deteriorated.