Public Schools and Post Offices: What do they have in Common?
Last week, one of Stephen Colbert's guests was a former mail carrier named Phil Rubio, who raised the alarm about the potential demise of a basic government service, the US Post Office. Dr. Rubio explained that the Post Office is a rather strange government/business hybrid, where it is controlled by Congress, but expected to cover its expenses through the revenue it generates. Yet it is not supposed to compete directly with the United Parcel Service or FedEx.
When Stephen Colbert asked Dr. Rubio why we should care about the Post Office, he replied: "Universal service." He pointed out that the Post Office adds two million addresses a year, takes care of our changes of address, and charges the same flat rate for a letter whether it is bound for an address around the corner, or one in the farthest corner of the nation.
There are now about 4,000 local post offices scheduled to be closed, though we have heard little about this from