# The (US) Postal Service **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257 "2011-12-06T13:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257/21 "2011-12-08T14:01:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Well, as has been noted upthread, and in several other related threads in the past few days… > > They’ve **tried** to do the first and second things (steeper postage rate increases, eliminating Saturday delivery, eliminating more post offices, etc.). The problem is that, unlike a private company like UPS, they can’t just decide to make such moves and implement them – any such moves have to be approved by the USPS’s board of governors, and said board has repeatedly stopped the USPS from doing so. > > The third might apparently require a change to the Constitution, as the postal service is explicitly mentioned and authorized there. IOW, the government gets in the way. I trust you aren’t one of those who wants it more involved in other things. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257/22 "2011-12-08T14:51:20Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > IOW, the government gets in the way. I trust you aren’t one of those who wants it more involved in other things. Even if I were, it’s not terribly relevant to this question. 🙂 The problem is that the USPS, unlike other government agencies, has to pay its own way (and that’s been the case for several decades). So, from that standpoint, it’s sort of expected to operate like a private business. However, it’s also under a level of governmental oversight and regulation far above what any private company would face. It faces a rapidly changing competitive environment, in which a “normal” private company would need to radically and quickly change its business model to survive, but the governmental constraints on it keep it from being able to react quickly or appropriately. In other words: if it’s supposed to be able to compete on its own, it needs additional freedom to do so. If it’s going to have to be beholden to governmental demands (do not cut any service, do not raise rates), then it needs more financial assistance from the government (and, yes, I know that’s an entirely different can of worms right now). Right now, it’s stuck in a “neither fish nor fowl” situation, which is just exacerbating the problems it faces. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257/23 "2011-12-08T15:00:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I forget which standup comic said, “The U.S. Mail is a great deal! Try walking up to any stranger in Times Square and say, ‘Hey, I’ll give you 44 cents to take this envelope to Des Moines for me.’” Funny, but not a valid way of looking at the situation. The USPS doesn’t take one letter at a time from NYC to Iowa. Try asking that stranger, “Here’s a big truck with a million pieces of mail destined for Des Moines. Would you take it there for 44 cents each?” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257/24 "2011-12-08T15:29:19Z")
From the individual USPS customer’s point of view, though, it’s only his letter he cares about. Of course, I heard another comedian once joke, “Forty-four cents to send a letter from New York to L.A.? That’s just a penny a day!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-postal-service/605257.md?page=1)