Postal Service

Your editorial (March 18), “ ‘D’ for Dreary” is just another cheap shot at the U.S. Postal Service, and as a 14-year employee of the service, a clerk shop steward for seven years, and an executive board member of the San Fernando Valley Area Local for five years, I resent it.

“D” is for derelict because that is what you and the rest of the press are when reporting on the postal service. Why is it that it is a crime when the service raises its rates but an accepted fact of life when everyone else does--The Times included? At one time, a first-class stamp and a newspaper cost the same. However, a paper is still and has been for a long time, more expensive that a first-class stamp. Let’s face it. It is much easier to change a couple numbers in your masthead than it is to print new stamps for the nation.

It is time that the press gives credit where credit is due. Despite some of the worst management in modern industrial society, postal workers move more mail faster and cheaper than anywhere else in the world. The public is getting good value for its money. It is time that The Times recognizes that fact.

BRUCE WEBB

Van Nuys