Ben Franklin is given the credit of commissioning the first post office service in the colonies as part of the Second Continental Congress. In 1789 the U.S. Constitution empowered Congress " ... establish a post office and post roads". Years after that several competitors vied for the first class letter business only to run up against the monopoly protecting United States government. After a fierce battle with The American Letter Mail company, Congress passed a law prohibiting private citizens from carrying mail.
Today, the U.S. Post Office has less relevance, costs more and solicits tax dollars from the public coffers. It's time to open up the gates of competition and allow FedEx, UPS and anyone who wants to go into the letter carrying business to do so.
We also have a real opportunity to create a new industry. The Post Office has recently lobbied Congress to reduce the delivery days to 5 or 4 days a week. Congress should comply and allow private companies to bid on the other 2 or 3 days. I think that if this were done it could ultimately provide the kind of competitive service that is currently non-existent within the government monopoly.
I'm not against the U.S. Post Office. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a USPS hater, I just believe that it can be better. Free and open competition is always the road to better products and services. This is an opportunity to make a good thing better and we shouldn't pass it up.
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