We got word yesterday that the proposed stop to Saturday first class mail delivery has been shelved for now.

Here’s one version of the story here.

I guess that for all the hard language and bluster, when it came down to it…we did what Congress said we had to do after all.

Kind of like a teenager saying, “I WILL TOO TAKE OUT THE CAR!!!” even though the parents hold the keys.

Here’s a quote that kind of summed up how I felt about the situation:

“This reversal significantly undercuts the credibility of Postal officials who have told Congress that they were prepared defy political pressure and make difficult but necessary cuts,” said Issa, who is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

How about totally undercuts? Wow.  How do you recover from being dissed like that?

The thing about it that’s really weird is that from my understanding, we aren’t even really a government…or at least funded by the government…agency.  We don’t get a bunch of taxpayer dollars…we do get told what to do by the government….but we don’t get a lot of government support.

Check this link out for a description of what kind of business (or agency?) the Post Office is….supposedly, except for some funds set aside to cover services set up to help blind people and some overseas ballot mailing,we don’t get any taxpayer money. We are supposed to be a “revenue neutral” operation.  We’re not supposed to make a profit…I guess so that we continue to provide an inexpensive service to the American people.  We are supposed to be self-supporting.

So, until we were mandated to prefund retiree health benefits…(how about that? What business have you ever heard of that was required to fund something like that ahead of time?)…until that happened, I guess we had a shot at breaking even.

I think it’s really just kind of a “perfect storm” situation…I’m not printing this blog on a mimeograph machine and mailing it out to my tens of readers…I’m doing it all electronically.  Most of us email, pay bills online, even use Skype (that’s another issue…the telcom companies have their own fish to fry)…we do things differently now.

Why should we be surprised that the USPS is having problems?  It’s a new world.

Our government shouldn’t act surprised when a hobbled pony can’t run, though.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images file