[jeffbee]

Why does this thinking only apply to the post office? Obviously we could cut nominal costs of the far larger US military if we threw out its universal health care, housing, and retirement benefits. The only way this kind of thinking makes sense is if you simply don't believe that the mission if the postal service (or the army) is worth accomplishing. After you decide that, you can obviously just throw all their benefits under a bus because now you're just trying to drown the agency. You can achieve the same kinds of (short-sighted, naive) cost savings by disbanding the fire department.