Paul Coverdell: “the urgency is not defined in the postal department's own clarification, just that they sometime--I guess it was in…”

“the urgency is not defined in the postal department's own clarification, just that they sometime--I guess it was in 1978--in 1978, in deference to the emergence of private carriers, concluded that they could be used if it was an urgent matter; in other words, needed to arrive within 24 or 48 hours or something of that nature. But at that time it was clearly left up to the user to determine whether it was urgent or not. And to ratify or certify my point, you had to pay at least double to do that. So the Postal Service was setting a standard which was monetary. Now they come forward and say even though you met that standard, you paid the additional money, we still do not think it is urgent. They are claiming the right, and I do not believe this Government has given them that prerogative. So all this does is you do not take on the issue of monopoly, but we go back to the original premise that if the private citizen or business was willing to pay the added cost, they therefore had identified it as urgent.”