Earlier this week, I wrote on this blog about a Washington Post editorial that advocated for some major changes for the United States Postal Service to help it become more financially stable. Many people realize that the post office continues to lose money and needs to make some dramatic changes soon. In terms of such changes, a new Gallup poll shows how many Americans feel about such changes and it ultimately shows that many Americans are willing to accept some reductions in postal service in order to save the post office money.
Those poll results noted that "U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter recently asked Congress for permission to cut the number of postal delivery days from six to five as a way to save his cash-strapped agency up to $3.5 billion annually -- a proposal that seems acceptable to most Americans." The choices that the poll respondants made are very interesting and worth evaluation. The biggest surprise from the poll results is the highly-favored reduction of mail delivery days. That idea was favored by 66 percent of the respondents in the poll. Instead of closing branches or laying off employees, people preferred the drop in delivery, which clearly would affect millions of people (unlike another option in the poll—renting the post office building after normal work hours—which would affect far fewer people). One of the least surprising findings in the poll is the unfavorable poll numbers for the idea of raising the price of stamps (again). Many people likely have been frustrated by past increases in the price of postage and do not wish for that pattern to continue as quickly as it has in the past. The poll suggests that instead of raising more revenue from consumers (from raising the prices of stamps), Americans are open to accepting cuts in the services they provide. In some ways, people could see this as similar to people’s feelings about the government. Instead of passing costs onto taxpayers through higher taxes, the post office is reducing its overall costs.A recent Washington Post poll had "slightly more than half [of respondents] saying they prefer a smaller government with fewer services to a larger government with more services." In the same way, people are ready to accept less delivery from the post office instead of paying more money for stamps.
It is going to be interesting to see what decisions are eventually made about the post office especially after Potter's suggestion. Regardless of the outcome, many Americans seem willing to sacrifice service to save money. Will the people making the decisions about the post office be willing to accept such a reduction? That has yet to be determined.