Post Office Prints Millions Of Stamps That Don’t Get Used

Maybe it’s time to admit that the problem with the US Post Office is that there is sharply declining demand for postal services in America.

As Homer would say, “D’oh!” In a move that wasted $1.2 million in printing costs, the service produced 1 billion of “The Simpsons” stamps and sold 318 million. …

The Postal Service earlier this month said it posted a loss of $5.2 billion in its third quarter and may lose $15 billion in the year ending Sept. 30. It has asked for Congress’s help in cutting costs byeliminating a requirement to pre-pay for future retirees’ health care and letting it stop Saturday mail delivery.

The service could save $2 million annually by ending overproduction of stamps that, like the Simpsons run, end up being destroyed when they don’t sell, the inspector general said.

There are actually a lot of ways that the USPS’ services could be reshaped so that the organization could remain solvent and even profitable. Cutting down on delivery days and door-to-door delivery is one way among many.

But most of these solutions involve the USPS employing fewer unionized postal employees and reducing or eliminating services in small communities without enough demand for postal services to justify them. This makes unions and small town mayors angry.

Unions throw around a lot of political clout, and small town mayors make for sympathetic figures in media coverage. So, as is usually the case in the way our country is governed, our leaders will do the politically expedient thing instead of the right thing.