Mail Theft Weighs on an Already Burdened Postal Service

The Postmaster General then outlined the causes: regulatory constraints that suppress pricing power; billions in misallocated pension costs; a borrowing cap frozen in 2006; investment restrictions that inflate long-term liabilities; and a universal service mandate requiring delivery to 170 million addresses regardless of cost. Added to this are rising inflation, declining mail volume, mailing restrictions, a growing delivery network, and billions in unfunded public-service mandates.

But Mr. Steiner overlooked another major burden: the surge in mail theft, and the failure of its law enforcement arm — the U.S. Postal Inspection Service — to contain it.

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