Massachusetts Senator Scott P. Brown and several colleagues have published an editorial at Politico.com advocating for a number of reforms to the United States Postal Service outlined in the proposed 21st Century Postal Service Reform Act.

The act would restructure and downsize the Postal Service to adapt to a "rapid exodus from traditional mail to electronic communication," according to the article, which Brown co-authored with Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Tom Carper (D-Del.). Brown, Lieberman, Collins, and Carper are listed as co-authors on the proposed 21st Century Postal Service Act, which was introduced to the Senate on Nov. 2.

Changes made under the bill include "streamlining delivery" to centralized delivery points, and allowing the shipping of beer and wine -- provisions already made by competitors FedEx and UPS.

The bill defines a centralized delivery point as "a group or cluster of mail receptacles at one delivery point that is within reasonable proximity of the street address associated with the delivery point."

The proposal also plans to encourage 100,000 postal workers to retire. Under the bill, the Postal Service would reclaim $11 billion in overpaid pension from the Federal Employee Retirement System and "direct the postmaster general to use some of it for retirement and separation incentives," the article reads.

The Postal Service estimates that a workforce reduction of 100,000 employees will save up to $8 billion annually.

The bill would introduce policies to facilitate worker rehabilitation. According to the Senate summary of the bill the law will reform federal compensation programs across all areas of the government to restore the original purpose of returning rehabilitated workers to work.

Brown's article states that postal workers account for 40% of those in the federal worker's compensation program.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe delivered a speech to Congress on Nov. 21 asking legislators to consider drafting alternative legislation. Donahoe argued for a more flexible business model to allow quicker cost cuts.

Donohoe said taken as it is, the measures laid out do "not come close to enabling cost reductions of $20 billion by 2015 – which they must do for the Postal Service to return to profitability," according to a release on the Postal Service website.

Brown warns of the implications of a collapse of the mailing industry, which employs 8.5 people and generates almost $1 trillion in annual economic activity.

The Postal Service has 574,000 career employees, and it generated $67 billion in 2010, according to their website.