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Show g B' I 1 ft ly v., r I ' i : '4 j Z ' ':- $ I i I ' i I I 1 ! -. - i ' ' -A ' ' r . j - - i 5 t i , 1 ' , I 'I ; -- : .,-, ' i -sf f 1 JAN BOTT think it would be better." t,s,i-s,. i'' MIKE CRANSTON ' 'Competition would lower costs." VIRGINIA PEASLEY ' 'Post office is most efficient. ' ' DR. DAVID LEWIS ' 'Private is better than government. ' ' Would it be less expensive to privatize post office? ' T 1 I ! I V X X ? ' k : ' - . 1 -s" 'i, & MELANIE ALLEN ' 'Prices might go up. ' ' SUE CLEVERLY ' 'Too many unnecessary employees." By JUDY JENSEN Ed i lor The proposed 5 cent increase in the cost of a postage stamp has once again raised the question of the possibility that privatizing the post office would be less expensive and more efficient. The U.S. Postal Service has asked ask-ed for and received many increases in recent years. The cost of a first class postage stamp has risen from 15 cents in 1980 to today's 25 cents. Other postal rates have shown similar increases during the decade. Many overnight, or same-day delivery companies have entered the scene in an effort to compete for business with the government owned own-ed post office. Some businesses rely exclusively on private companies for overnight deliveries. The U.S. Postal Service has proposed pro-posed to raise overall postage rates and average of 19 percent by February 1991. The postal service also plans to lower its first class delivery standards. Some mail now delivered overnight will take two days, and some mail currently f taking two days will take three days. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has taken a position against the recent re-cent request for rate increase saying j the increase in "unreasonable and unjustified." The U.S. Chamber listed the following facts about the U.S. postal service: -Despite more that $1 billion spent on automation, productivity has been flat or fallen in the last three years; -Workers are using less efficient machinery and manually processing the mail to keep busy because union contracts specify that 90 percent of the work force must work full time; -No worker may be laid off during dur-ing the current labor agreement, lifetime employment has been guaranteed to workers who have either six years of service or were hired before 1978; -The average postal worker earns over $40,000 a year and benefits which is more than the average pay for a teacher or police officer; -The increase, if approved, will cost consumers $8 billion, or an additional ad-ditional $88 a household, a full days pay for the average worker. We asked area residents to comment com-ment on the recent proposal for a rate increase. We asked if they felt privitization of the postal service would be more efficient and less expensive. Virginia Peasley said she thinks the U.S. Post Office is "the most efficient organization run by the government." She explained that since the post office has to deliver mail to every location, regardless of how rural it is, that the service is exceptionaL "They have to deliver anywhere, even to the smallest town. UPS won't do that. If you take the stamp increase in comparison com-parison to other increases, like those would help if the government didn't own the post office. There are too many unnecessary employees now. I believe we could send letters for less money if the company was privately owned." "In general most private businesses busi-nesses do better than the government," govern-ment," said Dr. David Lewis. He agreed with others who felt it would be less expensive for consumers to send mail through a private company. com-pany. "I think it would be good to have the competition. The service would be better and run more efficiently," effi-ciently," he said. in the medical profession which have gone out of sight, it is not too much. A private company could not possibly do it for the same amount," she said. Jan Bott disagreed. "I think it would be better for everyone if the post office was run by a private company. I don't know if it would be less expensive for a first class stamp if it was owned privately, but I hope it would be less. " "It would probably not cost less if it was privatized," said Melanie Allen. She said she would worry that if there were more companies competing for business that the price of mailing letters might go up. "I think it would be a lot more efficient," said Mike Cranston. "Just like with the airlines, when there was competition the prices came down. When there is only one company there is no reason for the prices to be lowered, I think the cost of the stamp might go down quite a bit," he said. Sue Cleverly agreed. "I think it |