EDITORIAL: Congress needs to address Postal Service problems

As the U.S. Postal Service does its Santa imitation this year, delivering parcels to homes everywhere, Washington should give the gift the service needs - the freedom to reinvent itself.

For the second time in as many years, the Postal Service is facing an abyss of red ink. The volume of mail is dwindling, and postal officials were denied a 2-cent hike in the price of a stamp last month. And despite the encroachment of e-mail, social networks, online bill-paying and the impact of the Great Recession, Congress continues to jealously withhold the flexibility postal officials need to manage the operation's skidding fortunes. That's got to change. To remain viable, the postal service should be allowed to adapt.

Despite a looming $7-billion shortfall in 2011, by law, officials can't close a post office branch for economic reasons. And without the prior approval of Congress, they can't end Saturday delivery - which alone would save $3.1 billion a year.

Congress should loosen the restraints. It should also restructure the postal service's $5.5-billion annual obligation to pre-fund health benefits for future retirees - something neither the federal government nor private businesses do. Pre-funding puts the service in the vanguard of good government, so it shouldn't be abandoned. But breathing room is in order.

The venerable Postal Service still serves a singular purpose, delivering to every address in the country. But in today's Darwinian economy it must be allowed to evolve. hN