Should the Postal Service have a monopoly on your mailbox? The Postal Service delivers so many packages it may be easy to forget that it has a mandate to deliver the mail to all citizens (universal service), and with that mandate comes a monopoly on the mailbox.





PostalVision 2020 is holding an event where it will discuss the issue. The " Delivery by Design " event will include a session where key stakeholders debate on the "pros and cons of the existing USPS mailbox monopoly in relation to the anticipated growth in ecommerce and increasing consumer delivery demands."





Moderator: The Hon. Robert Taub, Acting Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC);

Debaters:

- James Campbell, renowned consultant and USPS monopoly expert;

- David Williams, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government (and former Inspector General for the USPS)

- Jim Sauber, Chief of Staff for the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).





"Each panelist will take a position on the existing monopoly (to retain, modify, or abolish), with participation and feedback around each position being provided by the diverse group of stakeholders attending the event."





The USPS has argued that its exclusive access to mailboxes means secure, efficient delivery of mail, and says it helps it deliver on its mandate of universal access - not just delivering packages to the most profitable addresses or with hefty surcharges.





A spokesperson explained last year: "open mailbox access would make it easier for competing delivery services to strip certain profitable types of mail away from the Postal Service, such as catalogs and certain types of advertising mail.





"The Postal Service would be left delivering less profitable types of mail to less profitable areas, and yet it would have less of the more profitable types of mail with which to support those deliveries."





It's easy for people in urban and suburban areas to be dismissive of universal access, but for people in rural areas, the Postal Service is a lifeline that for-profit companies could exclude.





If you live in a sparsely populated part of the country, what do you think?