Ending the Postal Monopoly

Although I have been a sharp critic of the U.S. Postal Service over the years, I strongly believe your editorial, “The Stamp of Chaos,” supporting the post office’s first class mail monopoly is warranted and the only way to go.

I feel that any form of national mail delivery must be a single, unified and comprehensive system enabling customers to enjoy quality service.

If the postal department loses its monopoly, the resulting cut-throat competition that will arise in many of the more profitable areas across the nation will undoubtedly end national mail delivery service as we know it today.

Millions of consumers living in outlying and remote areas of the nation will experience numerous difficulties because one of their major means of communication will be eliminated.

In addition, another troublesome problem that may plague this nation is whether there will be any form of national mail service at all as a result of the destructive chaos that will come about from the elimination of the government’s mail monopoly.

Numerous companies of varying sizes will be competing for the money-making, creamier routes in the major cities and the surrounding suburbs. The postal needs of the rest of the nation will be all but forgotten in the rush for these prime areas.

As a result, the Postal Service will be expected to move into the vacuum but after losing billions of dollars under these conditions it is doubtful that this federal agency will be able to service those faraway areas.

If people are dissatisfied about the high cost of mail and inefficiencies in service, just let them wait until the proposed change becomes final. What was once a unified, more or less smooth functioning mail system with which we could live, touching each corner of the nation and most areas in between will become one gigantic mess.

The delivery of mail, since it encompasses such a tremendous area, must be a single, unified system to ensure any prompt, reasonable service. This means the Postal Service must be permitted to keep its monopoly and anything less will not only mean chaotic delivery service but also the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. Its after-effects will also be felt by many businesses across the country.

In other words, lots of Americans from border to border and coast to coast will come out on the short end.

JESSE LEVINE

Van Nuys