Fixing a sabotaged institution is not always easy. In the case of the Postal Service, relief is imminent. The Postal Service Reform Act passed in the House and Senate with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law in the next few days. All the major stakeholders — labor, retirees and management — were on board.
To set the scene, the Postal Service was originally the Post Office Department (POD) — a regular department of the federal government, funded by regular budget appropriations. The focus was on service to all residents of the United States on an equal, affordable and timely basis. Erosion of this commitment began in 1970.
The hackneyed cry of “running government like a business” provoked the separation of the POD into a separate, public corporation, the U.S. Postal Service. The intent was to create a free-standing, business-like entity that would finance its own operations.
