Political Awareness Doorstep mail delivery doomed? Congress ponders Post Office cost cuts ***Photo: Photo by Alexander Marks via Wikimedia Commons A measure in the House could alter how millions of Americans receive their mail, as Congress debates using its constitutional powers to help cut costs at the United States Postal Service yet again. Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican leading the House efforts to cut postal costs, is championing a move to end doorstep delivery of mail as a key part of a bill under consideration this week. Under a section called Delivery-Point Modernization, the bill requires everyone to get their mail at a curbside box or from a neighborhood cluster box. That “everyone” includes an estimated 35 million businesses and residences that currently get doorstep delivery. The Postal Service can make exceptions to the rule “in order to avoid causing significant physical hardship to a postal patron” and it can allow patrons to pay fees if they want to keep doorstep deliveries. Issa and Congress have considerable clout in deciding Postal Service policy. Lawmakers were able to head off a plan approved earlier this year by the Postal Service to greatly cut back on Saturday delivery services as a cost-cutting measure. A committee staffer says that the move to curbside and cluster-box delivery could save the service between $4 billion and $6 billion a year. And the Postal Service has reportedly stopped offering doorstep delivery to newly built housing developments. The Postal Service is one of the few current government institutions spelled out in the Constitution. It was established by the Constitution in 1787. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the powers of Congress, and gives Congress the power to establish and maintain post offices, along with roads to support the service, as part of a short list of enumerated congressional powers. Today, the Postal Service is a quasi-governmental agency. The Postal Service was established as an independent establishment of the executive branch of government in 1970. Its 11-member board of directors is mostly appointed by the President, and its members must be approved by the Senate. A Postal Regulatory Commission reviews and recommends rate and service changes to the board.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:12:44 +0000
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