Sell ad space on stamps

Over many years we have experienced predictable increases in rates and decreases in efficiency in the U.S. Postal Service. [“Next-day delivery bound for dead-letter box,” page one, Dec. 5.]

In the mid-1970s I made a comment to the local television station in Eugene, Ore., that I thought the U. S. Postal Department should consider selling advertising on postage stamps as a way of increasing revenue. I wasn’t suggesting alcohol, tobacco or personal products, just tasteful, revenue-producing advertising.

The TV station picked up on the story and ran it as a public interest story. The Postmaster General was contacted and his response was, “It would ruin the pristine value of the stamp to the collectors.”

I don’t know how you feel, but I would love to have an uncirculated 1914 Ford Model T stamp, or even an early Boeing stamp. No one has ever been able to tell me what the Postal Service spends annually in art, engraving and printing costs for the myriad stamps that are offered to us annually. I thought it was a good idea that needed to be explored then, and I think it’s a good idea now, especially in light of the proposed cuts.

— Bob Evans, Seattle

Republican Congress crippled service

Mail delivery has universally been a governmental responsibility. Yet right-wing ideology in America has sought to drive our Postal Service into the hands of the corporate world.

It was a Republican Congress that required postal pensions to possess a 75-year window of solvency, a ridiculous requirement aimed at crippling the enterprise, and without which, the Postal Service could eliminate most of its debt. And now we see the level of service reduced and thousands of employees poised to join the ranks of the unemployed.

When will we wake up to understand that the Republican objective is to eliminate the Postal Service by making it less responsive to public need?

— James Maynard, Sammamish

Government must serve the people

I was by turns appalled and furious when I read about the U.S. Postal Service’s plans to end next-day delivery.

It set me off because it is just another example of a government that no longer serves the people. It is a travesty that Congress and the Obama administration will not spend a dime to save an institution that every American uses and many depend on, while doling out hundreds of billions of dollars to the same banks that ruined the economy.

The Postal Service needs some reforms, but downgrading service (ending next-day mail and Saturday delivery) will only accelerate the decline.

The costs that are crippling the Postal Service have nothing to do with next-day mail or Saturday delivery. The Postal Service needs to reduce payroll, not reduce services.

Yes, the Internet has cut into its business, but the mail is not going away. We still need it.

— Luke Jennings, Seattle