The United States Postal Service

The rich history of the United States Postal Service dates all the way back to 1775. It was then that Benjamin Franklin was named the 1st Postmaster General of the Postal Service by the Second Congressional Congress. During the time of Franklin's appointment, the United States consisted of a feeble confederacy of settlements which were sprinkled across the eastern seashore. The newly created postal system helped to facilitate the development and growth of commerce, assured an open freeway through which information, thoughts, and, ideas can flow, and assisted in uniting the newly formed nation together.

In the more than two centuries that has passed; the Postal Service as the 48th largest employer in America, has evolved into a huge conglomerate employing 343,300 persons in roughly 27,318 post offices who handle approximately 213,137,700,000 pieces of mail in 2008. It would be fairly easy for one would assume that these statistics would suggest a strong and viable Postal Service unit; however, on the contrary the organization has experience a steady decline in revenue over the last few years. Usage of the USPS has spiraled downward resulting in an all time low which places the future existence of six day mail delivery and other postal services in jeopardy of coming to an end. "The U.S. Postal Service is in trouble. In March 2010, postal officials announced that the USPS will lose $7 billion dollars in the coming year. They expect that over the next decade, losses will increase exponentially to a staggering $238 billion. Needing to make drastic cuts, officials proposed eliminating mail delivery service on Saturdays. But even that extreme measure would save only $40 billion over the next ten years, so the Postal Service will have to cut corners in other ways as well" (Monten, 2010). Although it is not the sole basis for the decrease, the decline in revenue is largely attributable to the surge in the USPS' customers' widespread usage of technology. According to The Ledger Independent, "Technology has delivered a blow to postal delivery in recent years, resulting in a decrease in first class mail customers. United States Postal Service District Discontinuance Coordinator Bob Redden cited declining numbers of first class mail moving through the USPS by businesses, reduced walk-in traffic, and declining revenues due to online bill payments, as reasons for the study to the crowd of approximately 50 people who filled the Dover Baptist Church" (Toncray, 2011). The rapid advancement of technology has not only brought progression, but has also caused a regression in the state of USPS's affairs. Many more are now sending E-mails and E-cards in lieu of the traditional letters, postcards, and greeting cards that used to be so popular. Additionally, more individuals and families are resolving debts on-line through direct payments and/or through their bank's direct withdrawal payment system.