New Postal Offerings Raise Questions

New Postal Service Offerings Raise Questions

Issue Brief
February 20, 2014

Summary

A new U.S. Postal Service product offering and one recently proposed could generate new revenue via direct financial services to consumers and same-day metropolitan package delivery. But pertinent questions of regulatory, legal, privacy/data security and other implications merit timely consideration. A report by the Postal Service’s Inspector General suggests that partnerships with financial sector providers could leverage the postal network to sell a suite of new consumer financial services. Meanwhile, market tests of same-day package delivery demonstrate how the Postal Service’s monopolies and vast network position it to benefit from competitive advantages over private providers that include subsidies from monopoly revenues.

To read the full Issue Brief, please click here.

Don Soifer