Mail @ the millennium : Will the postal service go private? / edited by Edward L. Hudgins.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hudgins, Edward Lee, 1952-

Cato Institute.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States Postal Service.

Postal service--Deregulation--United States.

Postal service.

Privatization--United States.

Privatization.

Postal service--Deregulation.

United States.

Physical Description:

v, 233 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Mail at the millennium

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Cato, 2000.

Summary:

In the past, calls for the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service usually focused on that government monopoly's inefficiencies and high costs. But now other issues make preserving the status quo even more onerous and the benefits of privatization even greater.

The Postal Service is seeing some of its most profitable business, such as first-class correspondence and bill paying, being taken up by e-mails, faxes, on-line communications, and private carriers. To make up for projected lost revenue, the USPS is entering electronic commerce and other sectors far removed from delivering the mail. But those activities constitute unfair competition with private-sector providers because the USPS pays no taxes, can borrow from the U.S. Treasury, is exempt from most government regulations, and has regulatory authority that it can use against competitors.

This book analyzes why the Postal Service needs to be privatized if mail delivery is to be an efficient component of rather than a corroded cog in the communications and information economy.

The first section examines the state of the USPS, including its dangerous forays into cyberspace. The second section considers the changing structure of the mail market, including a look at labor problems, fatal flaws with the organization of the USPS, and the probable consequences of competition. The third section explores how to unwind government monopolies and reviews postal reforms in other countries. The fourth section offers actual reform and privatization proposals.

Essays by Postmaster General William Henderson, Federal Express founder Frederick Smith, and Pitney Bowes CEO Michael Critelli contribute to making this volume an indispensable guide for charting the future of mail in the new millennium.

Contents:

Part I The State of the Postal Service

1. The Coming Revolution in Mail Delivery / Edward L. Hudgins 1

2. A View from the Postal Service / William J. Henderson 17

3. The Postal Service's Market Grab / Michael A. Schuyler 25

4. Dangers in Cyberspace / James P. Lucier 45

5. A Mass Mailer's Perspective / Gene A. Del Polito 67

Part II The Changing Market Structure

6. Labor Market Outcomes of Postal Reorganization / D. Richard Froelke 75

7. Consequences of Competition / Robert H. Cohen 103

8. Fatal Flaws in the Postal Service's Structure / R. Richard Geddes 115

9. The Future of Messaging / Michael J. Critelli 125

Part III Unwinding Monopolies

10. The Post Office and the Digital Switch: Observations on an Outmoded Industry / Thomas J. Duesterberg 135

11. Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service / Michael A. Crew, Paul R. Kleindorfer 149

12. The Global Postal Reform Movement / James I. Campbell Jr. 163

13. A Competitor's View / Frederick W. Smith 179

Part IV Proposed Reforms

14. Congressional Plans for Postal Modernization / Robert Taub 189

15. The United States' Postal Contradiction / Murray Comarow 197

16. A Free Market Critique of Postal Reform / Douglas K. Adie 211.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1930865015

1930865023

OCLC:

44626918