Hightower: Don’t shut the post office, expand their services

[alp227]

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The US Postal Service, I mean – the corporate hierarchy that runs this enormously popular public institution. Yes, I know that USPS has lost revenue it traditionally got from first-class mail delivery, but I also know that letter carriers and postal workers have offered many excellent ideas for expanding the services that USPS can deliver, thus increasing both revenue and the importance of maintaining these community treasures.

So, use it! Put a coffee shop in it, a public internet facility, a library and museum, a one-stop government services center – and, as USPS employees have suggested, a public bank offering basic services to the thousands of neighborhood people ignored by commercial banks. Come on, USPS, show a little creativity and gumption, and remember that "service" is a key part of your name!

[aquart]

1. Isn't the postal service mandated in the constitution?

How do we close it without an amendment?

[alp227]

2. Not mandated, but Congress simply has the power to create one.

Art. I, Sec. 8:

"The Congress shall have Power...To establish Post Offices and Post Roads."

[aquart]

4. Thanks.

[jsr]

3. Add a public bathroom and soda vending machines