Earlier this month, the United States Postal Service quietly announced plans for rate increases. The announcement left us with a funny taste on our tongues.

First, while we understand that gas prices and other costs such as healthcare have increases &8212; they&8217;ve affected all businesses &8212; we&8217;re amazed the postal service continues to just pass the prices along to the customers.

Despite the fact that more households exist in the U.S., the number of first-class letters has declined. Theoretically, that would mean less demand that might lead to reduced overhead.

Of course, that would be logical and the postal service &8212; nor any quasi-government agency &8212; has ever been accused of letting logic get in between their needs and your wallets.

Beyond the 3-cent increase proposed for first-class stamps, the boys in blue have taken aim on another, small-town staple &8212; small newspapers.

Although the ruling is a miniscule part of most daily newspapers&8217; delivery system, the in-county mail rates are critical to small, weekly hometown newspapers. The postal service may increase those rates by as much as 30 percent. Amazing.

Although rate increases are run through an &8220;independent&8221; postal rate commission, Congress needs to get involved. Besides adding pressure to make the agency more streamlined, Congress could quickly stop some of the bleeding that is costing the agency big money. For example, currently overpayments to the postal service&8217;s pension system roll into the federal budget instead of being returned to the agency.

Better management is needed to get this bad-tasting problem licked once and for all.