Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, April 10, 2002

This is over and above the multiple questions raised about funding the inefficiencies of the USPS. That’s almost a given.

Last week, Postmaster General John Potter announced his "transformation plan,” supposedly aimed at streamlining operations.

Bill Burrus, president of American Postal Workers Union, criticized the document for saying "not one word” about "the loss of billions of dollars in unwarranted discounts to giant presort mailers.” That is the subject for a future article.

NewsMax.com, which has exposed invasions of privacy from a wide variety of sources, notes the conspicuous lack of any reference in the "transformation plan” to maintaining the confidentiality of customers’ private business.

"The United States Postal Service has an abysmal privacy record, and the American people deserve far better privacy protection than they receive,” says J. Bradley Jansen, deputy director of Free Congress Foundation’s Center for Technology Policy.

The Postal Service’s "Under the Eagle Eye” program requires postal employees to report so-called "suspicious” transactions to law enforcement. Details of the program are secret. But Jansen says that even by the program's own account, what qualifies as "suspicious activity” is almost always legitimate.

Presumed Guilty

"Under the Eagle Eye” presumes guilt and looks for guilt later.

"Free people should not be treated like criminals in everyday transactions,” Jansen says.

Ever wonder why you’ve been getting so much junk mail?

Consider the National Change of Address database. The Center for Technology Policy (CTP) charges that marketers have easy access to this database.

"They can quickly use it to find the new address of anyone who takes the time and care to fill out one of those cards at any post office,” according to CTP.

That enables you to get the relatively few items you wish to receive from your previous residence. But along with that, suddenly you are inundated with unwanted mail, all because marketers have a central point where they can find you wherever you relocate in this country.

Add to that the possibility that, given the lack of security of personal mailboxes, Jansen sees ample opportunity for identity fraud. "All that is needed to forward mail is name and address, and a thief can have anyone’s mail forwarded to another location if he steals the confirmation notice from the victim’s mailbox.”

CTP recommends that the Postal Service "be more forthcoming” about disclosing the dangers in the process, and that the agency begin working vigorously to develop better methods for consumers to obtain their misdirected mail.

And there is yet another privacy violation on the part of the USPS:

Surrogate Spying

The Postal Service requires that all Commercial Receiving Agencies (CMRAs) that offer private mailboxes for rent must collect from their customers and furnish to the USPS confidential information that the Postal Service itself is not allowed to collect.

There are approximately 10,600 commercial mail-receiving agencies in the United States. Some 3,300 of them are franchises such as MailBoxes Etc. Most of them are small businesses. The consumer group Postal Watch (PW) says about 1.5 to 2.5 million Americans rent mailboxes at these businesses. Most of the renters are small, home-based businesses themselves.

There have been numerous congressional requests for justification of this blatant violation of privacy. The USPS "has failed to produce a single study demonstrating any compelling justification or public good served by subjecting private mailbox users to such draconian and burdensome requirements,” says PW.

Attacking Private Competition

What this comes down to is a federal agency using regulatory powers to disadvantage private businesses with whom it competes.

The Postal Service gets very touchy when described as a federal agency. It insists that unlike the old "Post Office,” the new USPS is at least semi-"privatized.” But federal tax dollars are still heavily involved.

Actually, the USPS wants it both ways. As the Center for Technology Policy’s Jansen puts it, "The USPS should not be permitted to function like a private corporation when it wishes to market itself, and like a government agency when it snoops on its customers, raises rates to cover its management fiascos, or bullies its competitors.”

Next: What are USPS "management fiascos”? And does the USPS really need that postal raise?

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