The federal government delivers Social Security checks and processes tax returns electronically, but its use of the old-fashioned mail systems is soaring nonetheless, according to a new study.
Declining mail volume caused a plunge in the U.S. Postal Service’s total revenue in recent years, but the federal government’s use of first-class mail jumped 11 percent from 1997 to 2010, according to research by two top officials with the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the Postal Service.
In fact, the federal government was the largest single user of the mail system, accounting for more than two percent of the money spent on first-class mail last year, the authors said. States spend about the same each year.
Government agencies spent at least $1 billion a year on mailing and shipping over roughly the same period, plus another $200 million to $250 million on packages sent through private companies such as FedEx and UPS, the study by Michael J. Ravnitzky and J.P. Klingenberg concludes.
Ravnitzky, chief counsel to the commission chairman, and Klingenberg an economist with the agency, argue that the switch by federal, state and local governments to electronic mail for their communicating to the public may be overblown. And, they say, the Postal Service can continue to count on governments as major customers, even as it fights for survival amid the surge in electronic communications. The authors’ views do not necessarily reflect those of the commission.
Continued, link to article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/uncle-sams-use-of-snail-mail-is-still-rising/2011/03/23/AG9fJcHH_blog.html
- – -
Postal Solutions is the nation’s leader in the collegiate mail management industry, for both on- and off-campus mail management services. For more information regarding assistance with outsourcing your collegiate mail management needs, please call us today at (866) 378-8157 or visit us online at www.uspostalsolutions.com to save your student rental community or university money.