Current bureaucracy inhibits meaningful change, such as relinquishing package delivery and 6-day week
The role of the Postal Service has changed significantly in the past few decades. It was founded in 1775, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general, to serve as a communications lifeline for the colonies, delivering legal documents, business correspondence and personal letters. There were no telephones or internet then.
To ensure communications were protected, the agency was structured as a quasi-monopoly, with oversight placed under the Congress and president.
Fast forward to 2025 and the U.S. Postal Service no longer has exclusive jurisdiction over communications and delivering important documents. The rapid growth of postage-free communications alternatives in the 1990s, such as fax machines, broadband connectivity and the internet, led to a major decline in mail volumes. Postal leaders responded by targeting the parcel market for revenue growth.
Postal workers were equipped to deliver letters by foot or horse, and later with small vehicles to boxes at delivery addresses. But handling boxes weighing up to 70 pounds has never been compatible with the Postal Service’s core competency.
