U.S Postal Service as a Monopoly

If I were the current CEO for the United States Postal Service, I would be gravely concerned about the future of my business, as it has recently taken a steep plummet from its success and popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. The USPS is now faced with the decision to renovate itself due to the extreme loss of business as technology takes over the 21st Century. Some say that the USPS should be entirely reconstructed because the business is only headed further downhill, while others say that paper mail is still very practical, more so than e-mail, and we must each write more letters to do our part in reviving the business to profitability again. Because the USPS has been such a vital part of our country through

Postal Service is facing a major financial crisis and imminent collapse due to new technologies coupled with national economic struggles that have led to an incredible drop in mail and postage revenue (USPS receives no money from taxes). On top of these revenue drops, the Postal Service is burdened with unfair and difficult financial obligations that were imposed by Congress. This dangerous combination has sent the Postal Service into an economic downward spiral.

The case started on January 19, 2000 when UPS served a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration to the Government of Canada for a breach of certain obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (Notice of Intent, 2000). The real conflict is between UPS and Canada Post, where UPS alleges that they participated in anti-competitive practices that are illegal. Canada Post Corporation was formed under the Canada Post Corporation Act in 1981. They have the exclusive rights of operating a postal service in Canada, having a monopoly in letter mail (Notice of Intent, 2000) Canada Post expanded into the courier business through Purolator, Priority Courier, Skypak, and Xpresspost. It dominates the Canadian market with control of almost 50% of the courier business in Canada. As Canada Post is a state enterprise under the Government of Canada, the government is thus expected to regulate and ensure that Canada Post does not conduct any unfair business practices.

In July 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed the budget of the United States Postal Service as “high risk” and recommended oversight from Congress and the Executive Branch. Specifically, the GAO stated that “Amid challenging economic conditions and a changing business environment, USPS is facing a deteriorating financial situation in which it does not expect to cover its expenses and financial obligations in fiscal years 2009 and 2010” (“Restructuring”, 2009, pg. 1). The GAO claimed that the mail volume in 2009 would likely decrease by about 28 billion as compared to 2008 and that the USPS would likely see declining volumes for the next five years (“Restructuring”, 2009, pg. 1). Clearly, the USPS is currently facing a

In Daniel Stone’s editorial article, “Flying Like an Eagle”, he advises the USPS some guidance to boost up their profit and their usage to the community. One of his inputs on the

The Post Office Department known as the United States Postal Services (USPS) (Annual Report, 2009) today, is a dominate player in the mail delivery arena and has been existence since 1776. The Post Office was originally a governmental agency, but due to mismanagement by Congress, was reorganized in 1971 and no longer a part of the presidential cabinet; but became an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government. To date, the USPS maintains a monopoly on the day-to-day delivery of mail but competitors do share the market on some of the other types of deliveries; shares the market on some of the other types of deliveries (i.e. express

According to (SOURCE C), people are starting to migrate to the internet, and other cheaper mail options. As O’Keef says, they have experienced a 13 percent increase in mail volume in a fiscal year, more than any double previous decline, and lost 3.8 billion dollars. The USPS is anticipating even steeper drops in the years to come. According to (SOURCE E), the USPS is having a tough time, they are being battered by the high price of fuel. The USPS also takes a dig at our economy saying how it is responsible for their decrease in mail volume, calling the economy soft. The USPS is hit again in (SOURCE F), it states “not only are they losing revenue, they have been required to pay their own cost since 1970, which made a profit until 2006.” The decline in mail has caused major problems for the USPS, they delivered 17 percent fewer pieces in 2009 than in 2006, and lost $1.4 billion dollars. That money was borrowed from the U.S. Treasury. There is not that many alternatives for these issues, but there is one, that solution is in (SOURCE A), it simply states that they should not mess around with their delivery schedule. The USPS should be adding to their services, instead of subtracting from them. They dropped from a six-day service to a five-day service. As Richard Honack says- “to all

To many individuals, this is traditionally seen as a bureaucratic problem; however, personally I do not believe that the problem is purely the result of public sector negligence. Like many government services, it is more likely that the answer lies in serious reform rather than complete suspension. Interestingly, I located an article about the nonprofit - National Academy of Public Administration – that suggested a kind of public/private hybrid approach to fix the USPS’s difficulties. The concept entails “farming out” much of the behind the scenes process while a federal letter carrier would still handle front-line delivery services.

The United States Postal Service has existed for more than two centuries. As the people have grown into the new world of digital technology and electronic communication, the USPS continues to become more of a disservice to the American people. The USPS has still used the same rules and principles for more than two centuries, which does not intrigue any more customers. The USPS needs to be reconstructed in order to fit the needs of a changing world. As the world grows and develops into higher levels of thinking and technological advances, the USPS should grow with them, changing to become more useful to American people.

Royal  Mail  is  the  largest  provider  of  postal  services  in  the  United  Kingdom  and   one  of  the  largest  postal  service  providers  in  the  world.  This  paper  analyzes

Government corporations (the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak) are designed to run like a business and, we hope, generate a profit.

| The company generates 8.83 cents in net income for every $1 sales, quite good for a low profit margin business.

The USPS is at a point where it does not have the financing available to maintain its operations. One reason for the annual net losses is due to the declining rate of first-class mail. The second reason has to do with the required prepayment of $5.5 billion per year toward retirees’ healthcare costs. In order for the USPS to overcome this deficit, they will need to consider their short time frame, government restrictions and labor union backfire in considering the best alternative. One alternative would be to privatize postal services operations which would allow the USPS to change its pricing structure, yet it would potentially significantly reduce market share. A second alternative would be to undergo a system-wide

The goal of The United States Postal Service is to create “a free flow of information between citizens and their governemnt as a cornerstone of freedom, often spoke of a nation bound together by a system of postal roads and post offices.” (Longley 2013) Postal offices are forbidden to open any letters unless it is undelieverbale. The United States Postal Service (USPS) is resposible for providing postal services for the United States to all Americans no matter the geographical location. The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States federal government that was

From 2007 to 2012 USPS posted net losses in excess of $41 billion with much of that driven by fuel costs. It currently spends $3.3 billion on highway contracts, while spending only $40 million on freight rail contracts.