Implications of report by Postal Service commission [priv][fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Declan:

As far as I know, no one in this thread has yet addressed the
implications of the recently released report by the President's
Commission on the United States Postal Service, a panel President Bush
appointed last year to advise him on postal policy issues
(http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/).  In its Final
Report the Commission urges the Postal Service to address the
inconveniences its customers face when visiting a post office by
massively decentralizing its retail operations.  I believe these
recommendations, if followed, would tend to mitigate the privacy
concerns expressed by some Politech contributors.

The report recommends, among other things, "expanding and accelerating
efforts already underway at the Postal Service to bring a wider array of
services to customers in convenient locations throughout their community
-- from grocery stores, to pharmacies, to cash machines, and even into
homes and businesses via a more robust and user friendly Postal Service
website."  The point of this "revolution in retail access" would be to
permit postal customers "to avoid the greatest inconvenience of a post
office -- having to make a special trip there."  As more and more USPS
customers buy their stamps from anonymous kiosks located outside of
traditional post offices, the likelihood that the Postal Service would
be able associate personal data with individual bar code numbers stored
in a data base -- even if it wanted to -- seems increasingly remote.

Will the Postal Service follow the broad thrust of the Commission's
recommendations?  I think it will, for reasons of financial necessity if
nothing else.  The USPS is facing a progressive loss of its First Class
letter mail volume, which traditionally has been a key revenue stream.
(Think what the advent of cheap long-distance telephony, fax, email, and
electronic bill payment and presentment have meant for the USPS's
business.)  They know that if they want to survive and thrive in the
21st century, they will have to do everything possible to reduce the
cost its customers face for using postal services (where "cost" is
understood to encompass not only money prices but time and inconvenience
as well).

Sincerely,



(Declan: Please expunge my name before posting this.)

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