Say It Isn't So
Jim Sullivan
My
sincere sympathies to postal employees for having to endure the anthrax
problem!
Having
said that, I must now take the mail service to task for another matter,
their primary job. After each trip to the post office, which for
me is a daily routine, a wild thought bubbles up in my old head.
I try to dismiss it (the idea, that is, not my head) because it couldn't
possibly be true. Certainly, the U.S. Postal Service, known in today's
slang as the handler of snail mail, isn't getting snailier, or slower.
Is it? Maybe it's just my imagination.
I
know for a fact, though, that first class letters sent to my son, who lives
four hours away, take five full days, or more, to get there. After
years of writing to him, I have lots of mailing experience. And it
never used to take so long.
Now,
here's more of my wild thought: the U.S. Postal Service seems to
be allowing, or maybe even causing, this mail slowdown. Why?
Perhaps for good reason: maybe it wants to motivate customers to
purchase it's pricey 'Priority Mail' service for two or three day delivery,
or 'Express Mail,' for overnight service.
Surely
this can't be true. After all, no U.S. government allowed, first
class mail delivery monopoly, one that has been partially privatized, would
stoop so low as to let its inherited efficient delivery service go to pot.
Would it?
Why,
if it did, privatization would get a black eye. Moreover, you'd think
the monopoly would be yanked or that the organization would be publicly
chastised. But none of that has happened.
Did
postal management see a quick, lucrative source of additional revenue?
Remember, post office executives have been bragging about holding the line
on mailing costs at 37¢ for first class service.
Again,
whatever the reason, it sure looks to this white haired gent as if the
U.S. Postal Service should own up to some truths: like, for example,
a first class stamp nowadays really brings with it just third rate delivery
service.
And
if that's the way it is, maybe the postal service, to avoid temptation,
should get out of the priority and express mail business. Then it
could concentrate on improving regular mail delivery service. Otherwise,
it has a built in conflict of interest. There's just too much incentive,
like being able to charge 10 to 30 times the first class rate to get first
class service.
Let's
face it: any group, like the U.S. Postal Service, that can afford
to have a supervisor frequently accompany carriers on the rounds to make
sure the mail is being delivered efficiently can obviously afford to keep
mail delivery between cities up to par, too.
So
far, I've not found any investigative journalism type articles in magazines,
newspapers, or books on this subject. But it should be examined.
Something smells here. Admittedly, my ideas may be bubbling up from
elsewhere. But I don't think so. The odor seems to be coming
from the mail service itself. Please say it isn't so!![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Postal Pedigree
Sam Aurelius Milam III
Most
people believe that the Post Office operates under authority provided by
the U.S. Constitution. However, the only wording in the entire U.S.
Constitution that deals directly with the Post Office is in Article 1.
"[The Congress shall have power]
to establish post offices and post roads;"
— Article 1, Section 8, clause 7
|
That
clause grants a power, but not a monopoly. However, the Post Office
has a monopoly. The monopoly is granted in the Articles of Confederation.
"The United States in Congress
assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power
of establishing and regulating post offices from one state to another,
throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers
passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of
the said office...."
— Article 9, Paragraph 4
<emphasis added>
|
I
refer anybody who doesn't agree with me back to the U.S. Constitution.
"All debts contracted and engagements
entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid
against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation."
— Article 6, clause 1
|
The
Post Office operates today not under the authority of the U.S. Constitution,
but under the authority of the Articles of Confederation. It is only
one of several examples of the continued validity of the Articles of Confederation.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
June 2003
Page 2 |
Frontiersman,
479 E. 700 N., Firth, Idaho 83236
Also see Pharosat http://www.ida.net/users/pharos/ |
frontiersman@ida.net |
|