New Poll Shows Majority of Americans Oppose 'Mission Creep' at the Post Office 7/22/2003
From: Chuck Muth of the Citizen Outreach, 410-391-7408 or 443-310-4760 (cell) WASHINGTON, July 22 -- A survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies (McClean, VA) for Citizen Outreach shows that a majority of Americans want the United States Postal Service (USPS) to get its own house in order rather than expand into non-postal services to stem the flow of red ink in its operations. The findings are based on a national survey of 1,001 adults conducted July 18-21, 2003. The results have a margin of error of plus/minus 3.1 percent. When asked how the postal service should respond to a dramatically changing market and dwindling levels of mail delivery, 51 percent of respondents said USPS should "cut costs and scale back operations to save money" while just 38 percent supported "expanding into other services in order to make more money." Three percent said it should do both. "As the President's Commission on Postal Reform makes its final recommendations this month, we hope they take into consideration that a majority of Americans want the post office to 'stick to the knitting' and not expand into services that are already being well-provided for by private enterprise," said Citizen Outreach President Chuck Muth. The survey was conducted in response to a statement made on July 18, 2003, by Steve D. Lenoir, president of the National League of Postmasters, who wrote that although "delivery of letters, parcels and advertising mail is our core business, we feel there is much more we can do," including expansion of "non-postal services at our facilities." This followed a suggestion last month by Postmaster General Jack Potter that USPS should be able to offer banking services at its 38,000 offices to make the operation profitable. "Clearly, the American people disagree with such notions," said Muth. "USPS enjoys a total monopoly on mail delivery. They should stick to this core service...period. If the post office wants to compete with private enterprise, they should open themselves up to competition as well. This relentless mission creep by a government-protected bureaucracy does nothing to improve cost-effective mail delivery." ------ Citizen Outreach is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public policy organization and does not endorse candidates or lobby for specific legislation. |