Postal Service owes it to rural areas to provide better service, New Hampshire columnist says

"Constantly evolving technologies and lack of effective leadership from the U.S. Postal Service" are causing the agency to stray from its basic function—"to provide a letter mail delivery service to every American, no matter where they live, at a reasonable rate," opines George Landrith, president of Frontiers of Freedom, which describes itself as "an educational institute whose mission is to promote the principles of individual freedom, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, free markets and traditional American values as found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

Landrith, whose column appears in the Concord Monitor, which covers central New Hampshire from the state capital, writes:

George Landrith

The quasi-government agency continues to stray far from that function. While this ultimately hurts all Americans, it especially threatens states with large rural populations. Today, we have other means to share information. But rural America lags behind more urban areas in Internet use, which only makes the USPS that much more important in many areas of the country.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Postal Service seems to be increasing service and product offerings in metropolitan centers like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York, while they are shutting down mail processing facilities and decreasing service in other areas. While service is languishing throughout most of the country, urban areas are seeing a bump in services from the USPS. Recently they expanded a service called Metro Post to other cities, even though it earned $1 for every $10 invested—a 90 percent financial loss. Add this to other new ventures like grocery delivery—now expanding in New York City—as well as a potential move into banking services, and it’s clear that the trend has been to cut back on standard mail service, which everyone relies on, in order to move into other business ventures in big city markets.

All told, customers may not be getting what they pay for. Considering the stamp price increases, we can’t help but wonder if we are subsidizing their ill-fated experiments. While the USPS will fail to elicit attention from the 2016 Presidential field, the issue is still important. The tentacles of the USPS touches too many corners of this nation to ignore its problems. Now is the time for the USPS to refocus its mission and remember its rural customers.