a236  1304  06 Apr 77
AM-Electronic Mail, 320
By JEFFREY MILLS
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Postal Service should begin offering
electronic message service in addition to the traditional mail
service, the chairman of the House Postal Service subcommittee said
Wedensday.
    If it does not enter the electronic message field, the Postal
Service ''will be faced by crippling losses in (mail) volume,
skyrocketing rates, reductions in services and the need for greater
government subsidies,'' said Rep. James M. Hanley, D-N.Y.
    ''It is very distressing that present postal management does not see
the need to put greater emphasis on the research and development of
new electronic message systems,'' he said.
    The Postal Service is studying whether to offer electronic mail
service. Under this concept, a message would be transmitted
electronically between post offices and a computer printout of the
message would be delivered with the next day's mail.
    Such a service would save mail-handling expenses. However, the
Postal Service has not determined whether it would be proper for it to
compete against private companies that are beginning to offer
electronic message services.
    ''I fear that the Postal Service, if left to its own devices, would
study the issue of electronic transfer until the agency was
obsolete,'' Hanley said at a subcommitee hearing. ''It would be
deciding whether or not to move when the private sector had cornered
the market.''
    Hanley said, ''We are entering a new era of communications'' and
urged the Postal Service to ''adapt to a new environment in the
communications field.''
    Roger Salaman, a Commerce Department technology researcher, agreed
that mail volume will go down due to ''cost trends which increasingly
favor electronic modes of communications.''
    Salaman told the panel that the financial problems of the
deficit-ridden Postal Service cannot be attributed to inefficient
management. ''Rather, the problem is more accurately identified as the
result of changing technology,'' he said.
    
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