USPS should support, not impede, American small business growth

Since 1775, Americans have relied on the U.S. Postal Service to reliably deliver letter mail to any address in the country at an affordable rate. That was the original intent of what we know today as the U.S. Postal Service.

Unfortunately, the Postal Service has lost sight of its original mission. Today's Postal Service is not as focused on letter mail delivery, but more interested in taking on services beyond their core mission like special delivery services for online retailers, flower deliveries, chocolate deliveries and fish deliveries in New York City.

With each of these new ventures, the Postal Service is more focused on volume and not the good business practice of achieving financial stability. The Postal Service has compiled over $42 billion in financial losses since 2011. In many instances they charge below market rates for a number of products and services.

Fulfilled volume is always an important factor to consider in business. But, high volume of business activity while generating less revenue compared to cost is only going to increase financial losses.

This past holiday season, the Postal Service was certainly not shy about touting all of its efforts in parcel transports. Yet for millions of mail customers, the hope was to send holiday cards to colleagues, clients, friends, and loved ones; non-profits and universities aimed to send out fundraising solicitations and thank you messages to their contributors. But judging by the USPS's ad campaigns, the focus and push was on delivering online purchases as opposed to efficiently handling large amounts of letter mail.