5-17

1) A graduation card for J.'s sister (who's just completed her MA in education)
2) A Father's Day card
and
3) Stamps with which to post them.

This seems like as good a time as any to discuss the United States Postal Service. It's widely held (and apparently true) that there is a postal crisis (e-mail, online billing, commercial carriers, the recession, increased security, and the telecommunications industry are routinely blamed). The projected break-even point for mail delivery will rise 33% in the next 10 years... before increases in labor costs are factored in, before determining how rate increases will affect mail volume. I believe this crisis is a result of the USPS no longer being subsidized by the federal government (as of 2002 when the cost of stamps rose to 37 cents for first class mail and theoretically matched the cost of delivery the postal service stopped receiving federal funds).
While it is true that the American postal system is the cheapest in the world, in part because postal costs have risen less than the rate of inflation in the last 30 years, it is also a system that is failing. The United States Postal System is a model for what a government agency should be and should provide—convenient, polite, reliable service at an affordable price that unites the country. Instead of this government organization being treated like the national infrastructure it is and its work subsidized, it is being run on what is consistently determined to be an unsustainable business model. Rumors that home delivery of mail will have to be cut back or terminated persist and often delivery is unavailable in rural areas because of cost.
Here's a thought: subsidize the damn post office. They are providing a national infrastructure without which the country would be irrevocably harmed. Yes, we'll pay our 37 cents for our stamps and more when the rates are hiked again, but subsidize the post office. Don't look at it as throwing money down a well, think of it as paying for a national system. The federal government subsidizes interstates highways, farms, paper companies, the airline industry, Amtrak (which I believe they should continue to do) and any number of other organizations and agencies and you're telling me that we can't subsidize an actual government agency providing a service to the vast majority of the people in the country?