Testimony of Charles W.Mapa,President of the National ...

Testimony of Charles W. Mapa, President of the National League of Postmasters
Before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service & the District of Columbia

Of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
United States House of Representatives • May 8, 2008

Chairman Davis, Ranking Member Marchant, members of the subcommittee, good afternoon. My name is Charles
W. Mapa and I am President of the National League of Postmasters. I would like to thank the subcommittee for invit-
ing us to testify during your 2008 oversight hearings on the Postal Service. We are pleased to appear before you today.

Founded in 1887, the National League of Postmasters is a management association representing the interests of tens
of thousands of Postmasters across the United States. Although we represent Postmasters from all across the coun-
try—from the very smallest to the very largest post offices—rural postmasters are a sizable portion of our membership,
and we believe that we can speak for rural America with a certain amount of experience and expertise. The League
speaks for thousands of retired Postmasters as well.

This morning, Mr. Chairman, I will address three topics: the overall state of the Postal Service; the overall state of
Postmasters today; and the importance of post offices and the Postal Service to rural America, including the critical
obligation to provide universal service. This last point is a particularly salient point in light of the study of the Universal
Service Mandate that is being conducted by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

I. State of the Postal Service to quickly detect any problems in the New Products and Innovation
The Postal Service has been working delivery system and to finely hone its Managing costs, however, is not by
for some years now to increase its effi- solutions. Third, the extra fields in the itself going to be a sufficient means to
ciencies and trim costs. The League is IMB will allow a new “smart” informa- ensure the financial viability of the
fully supportive of those efforts. tion system to evolve and provide the Postal Service over the long term. If the
Postmaster General Jack Potter should Postal Service with an opportunity to Postmasters, supervisors, clerks and
be commended for recognizing—years increase the value of its services and to letter carriers are to continue to enjoy
ago—that if the Postal Service is to develop new products. the wages and benefits that we all cur-
remain a strong and healthy national rently enjoy, the Postal Service is going
institution, it must embrace new tech- The success of the IMB is critical to to need to do things a bit differently in
nology and more efficient ways of doing the Postal Service, Postmasters, and the the future. While such changes can be
business. We need to ferret out innova- nation’s postal patrons, and I hope that traumatic, we as Postmasters and rep-
tive ideas that can help us improve serv- its implementation goes well. I know resentatives of postal management
ice and lower costs. that there have been serious rumblings accept the fact that change is inevitable
PMG Potter has worked wonders from mailers about the costs and speed and pledge to work with the Postal
reducing the debt of the Postal Service of the IMB implementation, and we trust Service to see that that change is devel-
and transforming it into a much more the Postal Service and the Postal oped and implemented in a positive and
efficient entity than it was a mere decade Regulatory Commission will provide suf- constructive fashion.
ago. We applaud those efforts and stand ficient incentives for mailers to move to Some of that is going to require the
ready, willing and able to help in any the new system. Unless and until there is Postal Service to take advantage of the
way we can. universal acceptance and adoption of the provisions of the PAEA to develop new
Intelligent Mail Barcode IMB, the new system will not reach the products and to enhance the Postal
One of the most important areas for potential that we and the Postal Service Service’s and our economic situation. We
the Postal Service in its efforts to pro- desire for it. It is a critical matter, and have seen a few new developments on
mote increased efficiency is the new thus so are the incentives. the competitive side of the house, with
Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB). That the introduction of the two new competi-
barcode should, it is hoped, replace the We see that the Postal Service has tive products in January of this year—the
existing postnet barcode on all mail already started to encourage the new Priority Mail Large-sized Flat Rate
pieces within a few years. This will changeover to the IMB with the recent Box and the guaranteed delivery of
have three appreciable benefits for the Bank of America NSA, and that it plans Express Mail on Sundays and holidays.
Postal Service. to create further incentives for the use of We applaud those efforts and hope
First, it will enable us to track every the IMB next year when it changes rates. they not only continue, but expand.
piece of mail in the system, thus not only We have heard some rumbling of indi- However, we have seen no attempt to
meeting the needs of our customers, but vidual challenges to such notions on the innovate on the market-dominant side of
also fulfilling the mandate of the Postal basis that they are not work-sharing dis- the house, and no new NSAs. This is par-
Accountability and Enhancement Act counts. We dismiss such grumbling as ticularly disappointing and puzzling for
that we track and measure our perform- simply ill-conceived protestations two reasons.
ance. Second, having IMB data readily against change. The creation of econom- First, NSAs were a prime driver of
available to the Postal Service and to ic incentives for the rapid use and con- postal reform, as everyone knows.
mailers should allow the Postal Service version to the IMB is a perfect example Tailoring our service offerings as well as
to work in close conjunction with mailers of the Postal Service new rate-setting our prices to the individual needs of our
flexibility in action and exactly the type
of activity that the PAEA contemplates.

Testimony of Charles W. Mapa, President of the National League of Postmasters
Before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service & the District of Columbia

Of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
United States House of Representatives • May 8, 2008

customers is the most efficient way to doing so, all the time and trouble that solution to this issue, the problem is not
serve our customers, increase our profits, everyone took to pass postal reform, going to go away. It has already brought
and become a much more sophisticated including the time of all the members of down morale in the field to a noticeable
marketer and provider of services. this subcommittee, will have been in degree, and it will potentially bring it
Second, NSAs—and not necessarily big vain. The company that takes no risks down even farther. Both the Postal
ones—are the perfect vehicles to test never innovates. Service and the unions need to work
drive the new and creative concepts that together to come to some common
we desperately need to develop in order II. State of Postmasters understanding on this issue, for the long
to survive and prosper. In the past we have come before this term and for the good of everyone.
Committee to express our concern
New and creative ideas are wonderful about the workload that is being thrust III. Rural America, Rural Post
things, but they are a dime a dozen until upon Postmasters, and how 60- and 70- Offices and the Universal Service
they are actually tried; that is, until they hour work weeks are becoming all too Obligation
are tested. Testing—going out and actu - common. Unless I have missed some-
ally trying new ideas and creative con - thing, a five-day work week is still the As the committee knows, I am from
cepts instead of just talking about them— law of the land and the norm for all rural America where small towns are
is the key to the development of new and businesses. I know of no other industry the norm. Indeed it is difficult to get
innovative products. The Postal Service where top management is trying to turn smaller than Gold Run, California,
has not been very good about doing this back the clock on the five-day work where I was appointed Postmaster in
in the past. We hope this will change in week, and we wish the Postal Service 1986. Gold Run is a community of sev-
the future. would stop trying to do so. eral hundred people, nestled in the
In a somewhat related vein, one of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, between
We trust that both the Postal Service major issues in the postal area today is Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.
and the Postal Regulatory Commission that of contracting out. While this is not
understand that the fundamental princi- an issue upon which the League has Keeping rural America healthy is criti-
pals of sound management and innova- taken an official position, we do have cal for the political, economic, and social
tion require the Postal Service to try new certain strong philosophical concerns well-being of America. The glue that
things, and that trying new things means about the matter. binds rural America together is our
taking, balancing, and managing small Putting aside the question of possible postal system and the local post offices.
risks, with the emphasis on the balancing union busting—which is not a good thing Rural America has not gone out of style.
and managing rather than the taking. to do—there is a very real public policy Nor is it about to. Communication by
Unless the Postal Service actually goes question of whether we want to end up paper has not disappeared from our sys-
out and tries new ideas—without worry- creating another class of postal-related tem. Nor is it about to. If we want to
ing whether they are going to work per- personnel that receive little training, low keep rural America strong, and by exten-
fectly or not—and actually finds out how pay, no medical insurance, and no bene- sion to keep America strong, we need to
and where the new ideas will work well fits. What will that do to our society? keep our rural postal system strong.
and how and where they will not, we are How many more uninsured people would
not going to see the innovations we so that throw into the mix? What will this Rural Post Offices.
desperately need. do to the postal system? Also, what will The role rural post offices play in rural
this do to the image or the reality of the America goes far beyond the mere deliv-
An extremely critical part of this postal letter carriers? ery of mail. It is a role that goes to the
effort will be the Postal Regulatory While it is hard enough as it is in our essence of rural cohesion and to what
Commission having the breadth and modern system to measure up to that makes up the notion of “community.”
depth of vision necessary to understand famous motto “Neither rain, nor snow, The rural post office is an institution that
that the Postal Service must take these nor sleet, nor gloom of night stays these literally binds rural America together—
relatively insignificant risks on the mar- couriers from their appointed rounds,” a culturally, socially, politically, and eco-
ket-dominant side if it wants to inno- massive shift to contracting out would nomically. It, along with the rural news-
vate, or it will slowly whither away and make that simply impossible. As the paper, set the framework within which
die. If the Postal Regulatory League has said before and as we reiter- rural communities operate. To interfere
Commission won’t allow the Postal ate now, the issue of contracting out is a with either is to interfere with the funda-
Service to try new things without mak- very important issue that must be mental dynamics of rural communities
ing any mistakes, it does not make any worked out between the Postal Service and to risk the destruction of them.
difference whether the Postal Service and the unions. It is in the rural post offices that com-
wants to innovate or not. Until and unless the unions and the munity members encounter one another
Postal Service agree on some reasonable each and every day, greet each other
Put another way, without the Postal every morning, and daily reinforce their
Service trying to innovate, and without ties of community. Rural post offices
the Postal Regulatory Commission giv-
ing it freedom to make mistakes in Continued on Page 24

Testimony of Charles W. Mapa, President of the National League of Postmasters
Before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service & the District of Columbia

Of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
United States House of Representatives • May 8, 2008

serve as gathering places where social reiterate that the cost of keeping rural of revenue accepted at that post office,
news is exchanged and political issues post offices open is de minimus. As we regardless of where the deliveries are to
are discussed, often with some heat. It is pointed out many times, the cost of the be completed. Thus, the postage for a
in the rural post offices that political 10,000 smallest post offices—about hypothetical mailing of 15,000 is all
questions are addressed, sides argued, one-third of all post offices in the credited to the post office where the
and opinions formed. It is where friend- United States—is less than 1 percent mailing is entered and none of the rev-
ships are made and maintained, and (1%) of the total budget of the Postal enue to the post offices where the actual
scouts and scout masters scouted and Service. That is a small price to pay for pieces are delivered.
recruited. It is the forum where munici- the social, cultural, political, and eco-
pal and county leaders are formed, the nomic stability that America has for so That situation creates an enormous
forum where their criteria for office dis- long enjoyed in rural America. disconnect, for most of the costs of deliv-
cussed and debated, and the forum ering those 15,000 pieces are borne by
where the decisions that will be carried The Universal Service Obligation the post offices of delivery (to which no
out at the ballot box are made. It is the As the League stated in its appearance revenue is credited) and not the post
one place where local leaders can go and before the President’s Commission on office of origin (to which all the revenue
take the pulse of their community and the Postal Service several years ago, the is credited). Thus, the system inherently
find out just what are the burning issues defining public policy that has guided skews the relationship of revenue and
of the day. and governed the Postal Service from the costs among the nation’s post offices and
early years of our history to the present should call into question the very notion
Local post offices also provide space has been the vision of a universal mail of a post office “operating” at a loss, the
for community bulletin boards and post service. That vision was founded on the importance of the postal system to rural
federal notices. They are shelter where notion of equal access to postal services America, nor the role of the Postal
children can wait for the school bus. that would connect the American people Service, and no one has suggested any-
for generations to come. thing to the contrary.
None of these functions are functions Equality demanded that the Post
that can be filled by having rural letter Office Department set at least one uni- The Postal Service still is the econom-
carriers sell stamps from their cars. form rate so that a single stamp could ic backbone of this country and critical
get a letter from any place in America to to the social, cultural, political, and eco-
Moreover, in some rural areas, its destination anywhere in America— nomic well-being of rural America and is
Postmasters play a very important social whether around the block or across the going to remain so for the foreseeable
role that has nothing to do with the country. Equality demanded that the future. Any change in its universal serv-
postal system or postal revenues. These government provide postal services to ice obligation would negatively affect
are roles whose value cannot really be everyone, not just the privileged and that function. Some economists would
measured in dollars, and it is in part for well-to-do, including rural and urban suggest that universal service and the
these roles that the universal service areas that some perceive as being private express statutes have outlived
mandate exists and the private express unprofitable. their usefulness. They are, no doubt, the
statues remain. For instance, many rural The League strongly believes that we same economists that argued for the
Postmasters help customers with low lit- in the Postal Service should never lose deregulation of the airline industry and
eracy levels in a variety of ways, provid- that orientation. Mail service every day for the deregulation of electricity.
ing assistance in writing checks and to every address and every resident in
money orders to pay bills. the country is a fundamental right of Speaking as a president of a national
being an American. organization who must fly constantly,
Many rural Postmasters address It is important to state for the record and as a resident of California, I surely
envelopes for their patrons, as well as that while we understand that develop- do not want the Postal Service to devolve
read and explain mail to them. As such, ments in the world of electronic commu- to the level of today’s airlines, nor to the
they perform a valuable social function nication have altered the dynamics of level of the electric companies in
and have done so for centuries. In a mail, it really hasn’t diminished. California, where—just as in certain
related vein, state and federal forms are There are some that say that post third-world countries—rolling blackouts
available on site, and rural Postmasters offices that operate at a loss or do not were quite common for a while. See e.g.,
often help local citizens with these. pay their way should be closed. http://blackout status.sdge.com/reo/;
Without rural Postmasters, this social The question of post offices operating
need would not be met. The rural post at a loss or paying their own way is not http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/fron
office is an icon of rural America, and an easy question to address. This is tline/shows/blackout/california/time-
neither Congress nor the Postal Service because the system the Postal Services line.html; see also
should tamper with it. This is because, uses to determine whether a post office
as the committee knows well, once a is “making a profit” keys on the amount www.redcross.org/static/file_cont135
rural town’s post office disappears, the 9_lang0_609.pdf.
town often shrivels up and dies.
Thank you for considering our views,
Finally, we would once again like to and I would be pleased to answer any
questions that you might have. •