| In the old days, sending a thank-you
note to a relative was easy. You wrote it, {{U}}(1) {{/U}} , a stamp on
the envelope and dropped it {{U}}(2) {{/U}} a mailbox. {{U}}(3)
{{/U}} it went in a red-white-and-blue U.S. Mail truck, and {{U}}(4)
{{/U}} of days later the friendly neighborhood mailman walked it,
{{U}}(5) {{/U}}. weather, right to the recipient's door. {{U}} (6) {{/U}} you’re as likely to send a fax, e-mail, or instant message. {{U}}(7) {{/U}} you cling to traditional pen and paper, it's no longer clear (8) it will travel. Airborne Express? Overnight? Two-Day Priority? {{U}} (9) {{/U}} it moves into the 1st century, the American mail system {{U}}(13) {{/U}} to survive. In the past few years, the U.S. Postal Service(USPS) has {{U}}(11) {{/U}} many new services, {{U}}(12) {{/U}} stamps over the Internet, electronic bill payment, and a service that prints and mails electronic documents Yet revenues depleted by alternative communications (e-mail, electronic banking), {{U}}(13) {{/U}} with rising fuel and operating costs, led to a $150 million loss in 2000. Meanwhile, private carriers are competing {{U}}(14) {{/U}} business, forcing the Postal Service to contract with the likes of DHL and Emery Worldwide just to maintain its global reach. {{U}}(15) {{/U}} still delivering 20 percent of the world's mail, the men and women in the blue uniforms of the Postal Service just can't seem to {{U}}(16) {{/U}}. The problem is that the U.S. hasn't {{U}}(17) {{/U}} grips with the fact that in a fast-changing world, mail delivery is better run as a competitive business than as a government monopoly. {{U}}(18) {{/U}} many countries have privatized their postal systems, the USPS has attempted to maintain business in both the public and private worlds. It is a semiprivate corporation with a lumbering government bureaucracy. It is {{U}}(19) {{/U}} by a board of governors {{U}}(20) {{/U}} a blend of local politicians, small-town business leaders and federal bureaucrats. |