A function of the United States government is to provide postal service for the people of the United States. Our current government has given the exclusive duty of providing the Postal Service to the United States Postal Service, which is an independent federal corporation (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of housing the Postal Service function in an independent public agency, executive departments, and the Executive Office of the President. Additionally, this essay will explain who the beneficiaries are of placing the Postal Service function in each of the executive departments. The United States Postal Service is an independent federal agency that provides mail delivery (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). A disadvantage of having the Postal Service located in an independent executive agency is that there is sometimes weak management in public agencies compared to managers working in private industries (Bishoni, n.d.). According to Shafritz, Russell, and Borick (2010) the advantage of having a utility, such as the Postal Service, in an independent federal corporation is that the corporation can generate its own revenue (p.91). Independent federal companies are self-sustaining and are able to operate as commercial businesses (Shafritz et al., 2010, p. 91). To clarify, the United States Postal Service generates its revenue from the sale of “postal items,” rather than using taxpayer money (Longley, n.d.). According to Shafritz et al. (2010) most independent executive agencies must submit a budget request to the Office of Management and Budget located in the Executive Office of the President (p.91). According to O'Hara's lecture (2009) government corpora... middle of paper...a body like the United States is capable of experiencing some autonomy and acting as a commercial enterprise. As a member of the executive department, the postal department would have a say in creating legislation through the president and congress. Finally, through the Executive Office of the President, the Postal Service would be directly under the president, where it would assist the president and directly influence legislation. One question is whether Postal Services is important enough to be housed this high in the executive branch. I believe it is not and that our current US Postal Service does a good job. Postal services in early U.S. history were more important than they are today. If postal services were housed at cabinet level today they would not be as important as other cabinets dealing with the defense of our country.