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Harry Moskos: Congressional mail could close Postal Service budget gap

Harry Moskos is a former editor of the News Sentinel.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Posted September 18, 2011 at 4 a.m.

.DiscussPrintAAA.Here's a suggestion on one way for the U.S. Postal Service to solve some of its budget woes.

 

Devise a plan to get House Speaker John Boehner to stop sending me — and obviously thousands of others — letters.

 

There are three letters on my desk from Boehner with the same theme of "cut government spending," "focusing on ways to cut the size, cost and scope of the federal government," "continue to fight for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government," and "the American people are demanding that Washington cut spending."

 

All three letters were mailed with nonprofit postage, a subsidized — and much cheaper — rate authorized by our friends in Congress.

 

And who pays for that postage Boehner and, obviously, other politicians are using? The same American people he is insisting are demanding that those in Washington cut spending.

 

The first letter had 5 cents in actual nonprofit postage stamps on its envelope. I took the unopened letter to the post office to see how much it would have cost in regular first-class postage. The answer was 64 cents. The second letter was affixed with a nonprofit "$00.11.6" metered mail stamp. The third simply read "Nonprofit Org" with no amount stated.

 

It was Congress that authorized the nonprofit postage category for use by state and national political organizations, as well as many other groups.

 

In answer to my inquiry, David A. Partenheimer, manager of media relations for the Postal Service in Washington, D.C., explained that the 44 cents we put on an envelope, for example, to pay our water bill "not only covers the direct cost of processing, transporting, and delivering your bill payment, but also contributes toward the fixed institutional costs of the Postal Service. You are paying a greater share than nonprofit mail, though, due to their statutorily preferred pricing."

 

Partenheimer noted that there were more than 14 billion pieces of nonprofit mail handled in 2010 and "if nonprofit standard mail paid the same revenue-per-piece as overall standard mail, the revenue from nonprofit mail would be approximately $1 billion higher."

 

Gee, as the late senator from Illinois, Everett Dirksen, noted, "a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."

 

News reports this month noted that the Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in 2010 and is headed toward even a bigger deficit this year. How much would the Postal Service deficit be reduced if nonprofit mail rates were changed to a more realistic level and first-class rates remained the same or even a smidgen higher? I bet it would really help in lowering that deficit.

 

Another interesting tidbit from Partenheimer: "The Postal Service is authorized to receive $29 million a year to repay the Postal Service for money that Congress owes the Postal Service for nonprofit rates prior to 1993. The Revenue Foregone Act of 1993 eliminated the congressional subsidy for nonprofit rates and set up a 43-year payment plan to reimburse the Postal Service for the amounts owed prior to 1993."

 

Congress should look at revamping the entire nonprofit category, increasing fees and eliminating some organizations — especially political parties — from its use. Why should citizens subsidize ridiculously low rates to get mail they may not even want or agree with?

 

Can we count on Congress? Probably not. First, both parties would have to sit down and reasonably discuss the issue and reach a decision — definitely a difficult task in this political climate. But even more difficult would be to expect that our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., would even consider giving up on