the Postal Regulatory Commission, the independent panel that approves rate increases, turned down a USPS request to raise first-class postage to 46 cents from 44 and hike rates in other categories as well.
It was an economics lesson, if nothing else. Demand for postal service is shrinking (mail volume was down 13% in the Postal Service's fiscal 2009). The last thing a normal enterprise would do in such a situation is make its product more expensive. All that does is speed the flight of business to competitors.
And despite the USPS monopoly on first-class mail, it has plenty of competition. You see it every time your local electric company asks you if you want to stop getting paper bills. You see it when you start filing taxes online or send your first e-card. The shift from paper to electronic communication is inexorable.
When was the last time you wrote a letter by taking an instrument in hand and scratching ink across a piece of paper, then folding it, putting it in an envelope, sticking a 44¢ stamp on it, and inserting it into a mailbox with the flag up? I cant' remember my last snail-mail letter.
While I regret the demise of the nicely written letter, Benjamin Franklin's Post Office deserves to be thrown into the private sector, competing toe to toe with other businesses. Otherwise we'll see its demise come rain or sleet or snow.