Could Fishing Licenses Save the Post Office?

"If Congress wants it to be a self-sustaining operation, it has to loosen its micromanaging grip," says the Los Angeles Times in one of yesterday's editorials titled "Free The Post Office."

The Times editorial board believes, "Congress should make up its mind: Either it wants the Postal Service to be a government agency under its thumb, which would require federal subsidies, or it wants a self-sustaining operation, in which case it has to loosen its micromanaging grip.

It can't have it both ways.

According to the editorial, "A bill in the U.S. Senate would cut a path in the latter direction, giving the Postal Service more autonomy, though not as much as postal officials would like. The Postal Reform Act of 2013, S 1486, by Sens. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), would allow agency managers to renegotiate pensions for new employees and to base funding of retiree health plans on the demographics of employees."

It goes on to say, "The legislation would give the agency authority to provide new services, such as selling fishing licenses or acting as an identification-verification service for people who want to do online business with the federal government. It would be allowed to sell a wider range of retail items and to ship alcoholic beverages."

To read the entire editorial, click here.