B ut for its origins as a federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service already would have made drastic cuts to its services, facilities and faced the economic music years ago.

But, as a quasi-government agency, which still faces the wrath of Congress every time it announces a rate increase or a service reduction, the Postal Service has taken years to see the handwriting on the wall: The budget deficit it faces won't improve with time, wishing or political maneuvering.

The facts are what they have been, only accelerating and worse. Americans are, by and large, shifting rapidly to e-mail for communications and alternative physical forms of delivery, i.e. UPS, FedEx and other private-industry services, to get packages from place to place. There were 213 billion items handled by the Postal Service in 2006 to 177 billion last year.

It still faces the need to deliver everywhere, thanks to the federal guarantee of universal service. That means that not only must the Postal Service deliver to every new address established thanks to urban sprawl - some 923,595 addresses were added last year - it also cannot eliminate delivery to largely abandoned sections of cities. Every address is to receive delivery under the mandate.

The result: A $7 billion projected loss this year and the potential to lose $238 billion over 10 years, not factoring in further and more rapid decline in its business.

The Postal Service is, for the second year in a row, talking about eliminating Saturday delivery, which, of course, has set some in Congress to chattering.

When it combines or proposes closure of facilities, there is an immediate backlash in Congress.

Imagine if FedEx or UPS faced having every executive decision second-guessed by 535 people who want to be re-elected. Their business models would be in chaos, too, we believe.

The Postal Service says the issue includes the need to keep workers on the payroll to handle that sixth day of delivery a week. A simple solution would be to make postal carriers work a six-day week, but there are union issues to deal with, and the union surely would have Congress on its side. Indeed, the National Association of Letter Carriers opposes the elimination of the sixth day of delivery.

The Postal Service says it would keep counter service open at post offices for Saturdays, so losing all access to a sixth day of service is not an issue.

There also are issues of the Postal Service being allowed to account for its retirement programs as other industries do, rather than by the federal method meant to prop up a skyrocketing deficit picture that is hardly the fault of the Postal Service in the first place.

The agency needs to make changes, modernize, upgrade and promote its wide range of existing services, but it must also be allowed to make the changes it would have to face as a truly private company.