This morning, having been tasked with picking up a large batch of stamps for our office, I walked down to the old Post Office on Fayetteville street, where I was struck by:
- How beautiful and well-located the building is; and
- How slow and unfriendly the staff was.
Now I understand that criticizing the USPS is sort of a rite of passage for fiscal conservatives (a particularly…vivid example of this was posted a while back on our Triangle blog), but I was energized by my experience. It turns out, though, that the government was one step ahead of me: the N&O reported that the Post Office will be kicked out on July 15th.
I was pleasantly surprised by this move towards smaller government until I realized that it obviously had not taken place. A little more research turned up that Charles Meeker and his team had developed a plan to “save” the Post Office:
Two issues with the post office had been troubles with bulk mail pickup and parking, Meeker said.
The federal bankruptcy court has agreed to stop blocking the back parking lot of the post office for security reasons, he said. The court will open the parking for bulk mail pickup 7-9 a.m. every day.
The city will increase the 15-minute parking spots in front of the post office from four to 12, the mayor said.
So it looks like the USPS was just playing hardball; all we have to do is subsidize them by changing parking rules and we’ll get a piece of that lucrative Postal Service action.
Of course, the point might be moot, as the USPS is one of the worst-preforming government organizations, and will require a massive federal bailout if it is to continue to exist.
