He notes that mail volume at the Postal Sevice has fallen 20% in the last four years, one of many factors putting it in financial jeopardy:
This is a big historic, cultural shift. But it does make me wonder how viable the USPS as we now know it will be in the coming years. Big systems like a postal system can only survive with massive economies of scale. Without the bills and bulk mail and everything else keeping the whole system moving, sending your tiny little letter probably couldn’t be remotely cost-efficient.
Indeed, outside of parcel shipping, which has a good deal of private competition, there doesn’t seem to be much of a future for mail as we have traditionally known it. So what will be the purpose of the Postal Service, a constitutionally mandated organization, in the years ahead?
This is neither an original nor terribly practical idea, but I’ve always liked the idea of the Postal Service becoming the vehicle for universal broadband in this country. Post Offices could become Internet cafés and provide tech-related services, such as teaching computer literacy and how to protect yourself online. Of course, the history of having bureaucracies change from doing one thing to something else entirely is pretty awful. But an Internet-focused USPS would be in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution’s support for communications networks, which in the 18th century meant post roads, and in the 21st century means computer networks. Alternatively, there’s Michael Ravnitsky’s proposal to add data collection on pollution, cellular dead zones, and other things to the Postal Service’s mission as an additional revenue stream.
