30: ( 2006 ) : 383-436

The Postal Service has started on a "death spiral," in the words of the GAO, as its revenue-generating letter mail migrates to electronic channels.  This financial deterioration jeopardizes the future of universal postal service, a prospect that rural communities find especially disquieting.  Lawmakers working on postal reform recognize that universal postal service remains an ill-defined policy and they have called for studies of its origins and development.  This article views current proposals affecting universal postal service through the lens of policy history.  It identifies and analyzes four dimensions: a national infrastructure, a rate design that encourages the long-distance circulation of information, targeted efforts to bridge the urban-rural postal divide, and flexible boundaries between private and public delivery systems.  The analysis suggests that universal postal service developed as a communication safety net to fill gaps, especially in rural areas, left by other information networks.  In light of this history, the article proposes that lawmakers treat universal postal service and universal telecommunication policy service as complementary elements in a comprehensive communication policy.