The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors has announced Daniel Steiner as the next postmaster general. This decision comes at a momentous time as the Postal Service will celebrate its 250th anniversary in July. It also comes at a perilous time, since the Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year, is running out of cash, and has abysmal service performance across the country. The Government Accountability Office has had the financial condition of the Postal Service on its High-Risk List since 2009 and has called its business model “unsustainable.”
When he becomes the postmaster general sometime in July, Steiner should run the Postal Service based on two commonsense principles.
First, the Postal Service should continue to make its top priority the delivery of mail and packages, together, six days a week, to every address everywhere across America. This universal service obligation was codified again by Congress in 2022. While the private sector has expanded its deliveries, no single company or group of companies matches the last mile delivery that has always been made by the Postal Service.
Second, consistent with President Trump’s executive orders to make the federal government more efficient, the Postal Service should increase its work with the private sector on processing, logistics and transportation of mail and packages close to their final destinations. The private sector has performed these tasks for decades, and the Postal Service should take greater advantage of the cutting-edge technology and flexible contracting arrangements that will allow these tasks to be performed more efficiently.
