The U.S. Postal Service’s “universal service obligation” often is seen as restricting the agency’s ability to manage itself but that obligation is often misunderstood and is “long overdue for updating and clarification,” the postal IG has said.
The obligation is a collection of policies including a requirement to provide mail services to everyone, regardless of where they live, and for at least one mail product, at a uniform price. “Other features of the USO are understood to include frequency of delivery, a range of product offerings, access to mail services, and quality of service. For instance, delivering your mail 6 days a week is part of the USO,” the postal IG said in a blog.
However, it said, frequency of delivery is the only obligation that is clearly articulated, while other legal requirements and regulations in most cases, provide only broad guidance. “For example, while public access to postal services is another important component of the USO, there’s nothing about how many access points, such as collection boxes or post offices, must exist.The big question: What exact services do policy makers and the American public (both senders and receivers of the mail) now need the Postal Service to provide?” it asked.
In a white paper, the office said the USO should be reviewed with these considerations in mind: update and clarify its purpose and then focus on the services needed to meet those goals; define a floor level of service but let the market define the ceiling; be flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions over a number of years; define it in terms of service to be received rather than how the service is provided; be financially sustainable while reasonably priced; and have transparent and measurable requirements.
The white paper is here: https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-15-001.pdf