The Norman Transcript

Editorials

Discussion

February 8, 2013

Postal Service cuts hit most loyal customers

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Just weeks after raising the price of first-class postage, the U.S. Postal Service announced it will eliminate Saturday mail home delivery beginning in August. It’s a move that could still be averted if Congress steps in with some authority, but it appears the $2 billion in projected savings will override the inconvenience of service interruption for longtime loyal customers.

Residents and businesses that have come to depend on receiving what first class mail that is left are being asked to sacrifice to make up for the postal service’s lack of foresight in worker benefit liabilities and other financial areas.

The Postal Service has already closed many rural post offices in recent years, eliminating a large slice of community life in those small towns. This decision will also impact many newspapers that have come to rely on the mail for delivery.

Those newspapers also must deal with a Postal Service that gives preferred mailing rates to large, bulk mailers that then undercut newspapers with advertisers and their printed circulars.

We believe other options are available and ask that Congress and the Postal Service seek a more fair solution that doesn’t penalize some of the mail’s best, most loyal customers.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • The Oklahoma standard

    The sight of hundreds of young student volunteers walking across Moore’s Fourth Street interstate overpass had to be uplifting to the city’s tornado victims. They carried rakes, brooms and trash bags. A few had children’s red wagons. There ...

    May 23, 2013

  • There’s no answer for ‘Why?’

    Just hours before, there was breakfast and laughter. Pictures were on the walls and memories were in every room. But in seconds, those joys of life were reduced to a concrete slab by a rage of nature that man will never fully understand....

    May 22, 2013

  • Moore’s amazing resilience

    Our hearts, already heavy from Sunday’s deadly tornado in far eastern Cleveland County, sunk even further Monday afternoon as we watched the tornado rip through Moore. The monster storm that hit Monday followed nearly the same path as the ...

    May 22, 2013

  • Relying on private prisons

    Oklahoma began contracting to place inmates in private prisons during Gov. Frank Keating’s administration in 1995. Today, more than 5,000, or 23 percent, of our inmates are in the custody of three private prisons....

    May 21, 2013

  • Thanks for warnings

    We can’t say there wasn’t enough warning this time around....

    May 21, 2013

  • Airline changes coming

    In the airlines business, time is money. American Airlines wants to try and speed up its boarding process. Passengers who travel with only a personal item such as a purse or a brief case can now get on first....

    May 19, 2013

  • SEC should act on conflicts

    Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want....

    May 19, 2013

  • We all deserve better

    The tough treatment of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) party and other conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service is being assailed by leaders of both political parties....

    May 19, 2013

  • Tax plan gets projects going

    A deal to divert state use taxes to fund completion of the American Indian Cultural Center Museum in Oklahoma City and build the Museum of Popular Culture in Tulsa looks like a good way to get some momentum on both projects....

    May 18, 2013

  • Keeping the state’s promise

    A college education or professional certification will not guarantee a successful career, but the odds are much better when such accomplishment is achieved. Access to post-high school education is often problematic. Oklahoma’s Promise, ...

    May 18, 2013