The post office – the postal service – is an institution as important and rooted in our community as the school system or the fire department, but different, too. It touches every person’s life, probably every day. Funded by the federal government, it costs us next to nothing. The postage we pay for, whether to mail an envelope across town or a box around the world, is subsidized; the expense is much more than we are charged.

Americans have among the cheapest postage rates in the world, certainly compared to Europe. Here, a stamp costs fifty-five cents. That is half the averag...