A PATH FORWARD FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE

The need for more clarity on exactly what the USPS is-public agency or private business-is increasingly important as the USPS plunges deeper into a financial crisis that is decades in the making. [...]this Essay contends that the way forward for the USPS is another restructuring, this time in the form of a commitment to transform the USPS into either a fully public agency or a fully private business. In the 1840s, the Post Office received a taxpayerfunded bailout after private companies began using steamboats and railroads to compete with the Post Office to deliver mail more cheaply.11 Subsequently, Congress passed a series of laws to give the agency a monopoly over lettercarrying, thus cutting out competition from the private firms.12 Congress created an annual appropriation to further support the Post Office in 1851.13 Thus, the federal government's early reactions to the Post Office's financial difficulties were in the form of support via both federal funding and new laws that differentiated the Post Office's functions from those of private businesses. In 1968, a presidential commission studying the Post Office concluded that it would fare better if it were "run as a business" rather than as a government agency.20 Postal unions strongly opposed such a shift, however, setting the stage for the clashes-and restructuring-to come.21 C.The Postal Reorganization Act In 1970, postal carriers in New York City went on strike; letter carriers across the nation quickly followed suit.22 Although much of the American public did not receive mail for eight days, there was still public support for the strike.23 In the negotiations that ensued, the unions and the government struck a deal: the unions would support a reorganization of the Post Office in exchange for higher pay and collective bargaining rights.24 Shortly thereafter, President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA) into law.25 The PRA drastically changed the character of the postal system. "31 It is not quite a business, as it remains exempt from many federal laws and regulations that would normally apply to businesses.32 Yet, it is not quite a government agency either, as it is exempt from many laws that apply to government agencies as well.33 In striking a "grand bargain" with the unions, the PRA stuck the USPS somewhere between a government agency and a private business.34 Although the USPS remains a part of the Executive Branch, it is not under that branch's direct control, as it is ov