Senator Carper reacts to report on overcapacity at postal service

A report released by the Government Accountability Office is confirmation for legislators that there’s no better time than now to take action and help the U.S. Postal Service better handle its mail processing network.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the subcommittee that overseas the U.S. Postal Service, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., all requested the report.

“The report confirmed much of what we already knew – that the U.S. Postal Service has gone to great lengths to reduce the number of mail processing centers it maintains in order to adjust its operations to reflect the changing demand for the products and services it offers. To date, the Postal Service has consolidated dozens of facilities, particularly Airport Mail Centers, saving billions of dollars annually. Yet despite these efforts, the Postal Service still maintains far more processing capacity than it needs to meet current demand in a cost effective manner,” said Carper.

Next week on Tuesday, Sen. Carper says there will be legislation that not only makes the postal service more relevant in the 21st century but solvent in the 21st century. According to legislators, more people have moved from first class mail to sending emails. Carper even used his office as an example in an interview on “First”, stating that in 2001 for every email his office received, there were 16 letters mailed. But in 2011, Carper’s office got 14 emails to every one letter and he says that means there’s been a huge change in the way we communicate.

“At the end of the day, the Postal Service needs to make some decisions to enable them to save more money, they’re losing 23 million dollars a day, and they have a 13 billion dollar debt to the federal government. My goal is by the end of 2015, the Postal Service will be at the break even basis to fully repay its obligation to the federal government.”

You can view Sen. Carper’s remarks on his effort to save the U.S. Postal Service on WHYY-TV, Friday at 5:30 and 11pm, Sunday at 11am, and Monday afternoon at 5:30.  You can also look at the full interview on NewsWorks.org/delaware.