In today’s edition of the Baltimore Sun J. H. Huebert says that it’s time to stamp out the U.S. Postal Service’s monopoly. Given that this inexcusable monopoly privilege wasn’t eliminated long ago, he’s correct: no time like the present to do what ought to be done. Here are the final few paragraph’s of this fine op-ed:
Sure, the post office can go on pretending it’s a business. Postmaster
General Potter can talk about the dynamics of the "communications
market" and dealing with "competition."
But none of that make-believe will change the fact that the post office
is an outrageously inefficient government monopoly, which exists only
because the law protects it from real competition or even the
consequences of its perpetually poor management.
Strip the post office of its special privileges. Then we would see what
kind of "business" it’s capable of. In all likelihood, under those
circumstances, it would quickly become extinct.
Nothing, not even the "forever" stamp, is really forever. If it can’t
function as a truly private business, then it’s time for the post
office to step aside and let the private sector take over.
