Postmaster General to Congress: Be Flexible

Mr. Chairman, we need the flexibility under the law to implement our new delivery schedule.

• We need...the ability to develop and price products quickly.
• The ability to control our healthcare and retirement costs.
• The ability to switch to a defined contribution retirement system for new employees.
• The ability to quickly realign our mail processing, delivery and retail networks.
• We need a more streamlined governance model.
• And, we need more flexibility in the way we leverage our workforce.

Contrary to the arguments we hear from some parties, it is not enough merely to resolve the prefunding of retiree health benefits. We can implement our five-year business plan, close a $20 billion dollar budget gap by the year 2017, and return the Postal Service to long-term profitability – but only if we gain flexibility in each of these areas.