Why I don't have my Oliver Model 3 yet.

The Slow Death of the U.S. Postal Service

by James Bovard

James Bovard, an associate policy analyst of the Cato Insti- tute, has written widely on the U.S. Postal Service for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

---

Executive Summary

Mail service in the United States is getting slower, more expensive, and less reliable. First-class mail moves 15 percent slower than it did in 1969. The cost of first-class postage is rising twice as fast as inflation. According to the U.S. Postal Service's own figures, postal worker productivity has declined during the 1980s.

The Postal Service is misleading the American public on the quality of mail service it provides. Post office hours have been slashed, mail has been intentionally slowed down, and millions of Americans have been denied home mail delivery. In some cities, post offices are opening an hour later in the morning and the last mail pickup of the day is now at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The Postal Service would like to do even more: In 1986, for example, Postmaster General Albert Casey advocated abolishing Monday mail deliveries and abolishing standards for two-day delivery of first-class mail.

Click here for the full story.