Editorial: Give Postal Service authority to cut 

Congress should allow the U.S. Postal Service to take appropriate cost-cutting actions - including elimination of Saturday delivery and closure of specific low-volume postal facilities - to protect its core mission of providing universal service to Americans.

The Journal Star editorial board takes that stance with considerable empathy for the pressures facing the Postal Service.

After all, we're also in the business of delivering print on paper to homes and we regularly use the Postal Service for daily newspaper delivery in a variety of areas outside of Lincoln. Further, we recently launched a weekly saturation shared-mail product (Local Values) that reaches nearly every home in Lincoln. This product, too, is delivered by the Postal Service.

Although some believe that the Postal Service receives generous federal subsidies, it has been required by law since 1982 to cover its costs. Postal Service revenue comes not from taxes, but from the sale of stamps, mail products and service. It receives only a yearly appropriation to provide free absentee ballots to overseas military personnel.

The mission of providing universal mail service is challenging. The Postal Service uses everything from helicopters to hovercraft to subways to deliver the mail. In the Grand Canyon the best transportation option happens to be the mule.

The Postal Service already has undertaken aggressive cost-cutting and significant modernization. For example, says Postmaster General John E. Potter, 10 years ago it took 70 employees one hour to sort 35,000 letters. Today it takes two employees to do the same amount of work.

But in an era when people can talk to someone on the other side of the globe on a video hookup without additional charges, the demand for postal delivery is changing.

The Postal Service is projected to lose $7 billion this year. Mail volume has dropped from a high of 213 billion pieces of mail in 2006 to 177 billion last year.

Federal authorities say that without major change the Postal Service could lose $238 billion by 2020.

One indication of how difficult it will be for the Postal Service to stay out of the red is this: Even a step as drastic as eliminating Saturday service will save only $3 billion a year.

Postal Service officials also need latitude from Congress to take other steps that are sure to be unpopular, such as closing some post offices. Of the 32,000 post offices the agency operates, 26,000 of them lose money.

Other possibilities for bringing costs into line with revenue include work force reduction and development of new product lines.

There's little doubt that the cuts will disrupt traditions and habits. Other businesses will be forced to adapt.

The Postal Service is still a vital part of the national economy, used daily by businesses and consumers alike. Millions of Americans depend on it.