POST OFFICE IS EASY TARGET, BUT MAIL STILL GETS DELIVERED

There may be some method in the madness postal patrons have experienced in recent days. Long lines, long waits and shortages of the new 32-cent, first-class stamps or the 3-cent stamps to go with the old 29-cent stamps may not have been deliberate, but they certainly accomplished one thing in the Postal Service's favor: People have spent so much time griping about how hard it is to get the stamps that they have generally forgotten about the price increase itself.

That is just as well. It is an economic fact that costs keep climbing. The Postal Service's 3-cent increase for first-class mail is about a 10 percent boost, but the rate of inflation has grown at about the same rate since the last postage increase. In other words, the post office isn't getting rich from stamp sales.

It is awfully easy to complain about the Postal Service, but it is something of a modern miracle that most of the billions of pieces of mail it handles arrive at their destination sooner or later. Some mailers complain about letters that don't arrive for several days. Some of the Postal Service's competitors offer speedier service. So does your local post office. All of the faster delivery comes at a cost, and the Postal Service's rates continue to be competitive.

Over the years, competitive delivery systems have taken much of what can be called the gravy in the delivery of packages and other items. These private systems can pick and choose their customers, and they can set rates at whatever the competition will bear. Meanwhile, the Postal Service accepts and attempts to deliver anything with a readable address and the right postage, for the most part.

There are things everyone would like to see improve at the post office, but they are mostly small items of convenience and speed in a hurry-up world. Given its mission and the volume of mail it handles, the Postal Service is still a bargain in most respects.