IMAG Exec Keynotes Talk on USO

Postal reform in the United States should start with redefining the universal service obligation (USO) and understanding what Americans need -- and are willing to pay for -- from a modern postal system, IMAG's Executive Director Kate Muth said in a May presentation to the Universal Postal Union's Consultative Committee (CC). Muth was the keynote speaker in the final installment of a webinar trilogy the CC hosted this spring. Muth noted that digital communications and the growing role of ecommerce means citizens do not necessarily need the same type of services from the Postal Service today that they did 20 years ago, especially if it comes at a steep price tag. Yet the United States lags behind the rest of the world and industrialized posts in adapting and defining its USO for the digital age. A recording of Muth's presentation can be found here and her comments, as prepared, are here.