Any business owner or leader of a household knows they must live within their means.
Same goes for the United States Postal Service. But to do this, the federal government must release the USPS from restrictions it has placed on it.
As federal officials consider how to develop a deficit-reduction package, it must also draft a package for the continued operation of the struggling Postal Service.
The Postmaster General has warned that the agency may lose $10 billion this fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and faces default sometime next year.
The problem lies in that mail volume, especially first class and consumer bills, has dropped by 22 percent since 2006. This is likely due to more people relying on the Internet to do the business they once mailed.
The USPS must be allowed, like private enterprise, to figure out what works to be successful, but our own federal government has hindered that by imposing restrictions on USPS services.
Those restrictions must be lifted to allow the USPS to explore all options to keep it viable and competitive. And that may mean exploring reducing Saturday delivery and closing some post offices.
Clearly, no one favors reducing any government services that we have grown accustom to having, but as our federal government considers ways to get out of a $1.5 trillion deficit, all government services ought to be on the table.
