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270 IRET Congressional Advisory 1 (2010)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/iretcgadv0267 and id is 1 raw text is: INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON THE ECONOMICS OF TAXATION IRET is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) economic policy research and educational organization devoted to informing the public about policies that will promote growth and efficient operation of the market economy. November 30, 2010 Advisory No. 270 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE TO DELIVER NONPOSTAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES Executive Summary The U.S. Postal Service currently provides a small number of nonpostal government services, such as accepting passport applications, offering Selective Service registration forms, and renting excess space to other government agencies. The Postal Service should work with other government agencies to offer more nonpostal government services. These activities will benefit the general public, other government entities, and the Postal Service itself if several important conditions are met: An activity under consideration must raise the quality or lower the cost of government services, such as by making government more accessible to the general public. The Service must receive enough compensation to insure that mail users do not subsidize the non-mail activity and the activity's value to the government or the general public exceeds its cost. The activity must not interfere with or distract from the Postal Service's core mission of mail delivery. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), as implemented by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), allows the Service to engage in nonpostal government activities. There are sound economic reasons for restricting new nonpostal commercial ventures by the Postal Service while permitting nonpostal government activities in cooperation with other government agencies. The Service's thousands of local post offices, huge vehicle fleet, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are potentially valuable resources in assisting federal, state, and local governments. What additional nonpostal government services should be considered? Among the possibilities: * provide more nonpostal government services in partnership with state and local governments; * let other government agencies use postal vehicles as platforms for mobile sensor networks; and * reduce fraud by making recipients of some government benefits appear at local post offices. The Postal Service should examine its operations and resources, looking for activities that would assist other government agencies, help the general public, be profitable for the Service, and not impair mail delivery. It also should seek ideas from the postal community and federal, state, and local governments.