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Investigative reporter, author and former federal agent Chuck Hustmyre has seen the ugly side of life, from A to Z. Here he gets the last word on politics, crime, local government and pop culture.

You know what hacks me off? The U.S. Postal Service.

Recently I've had the misfortune of having to do business at three of our city's post offices -- Bennington Avenue, Perkins Road near Bluebonnet, and Government Street. At each one I've had the same experience: waiting in line forever.

Not just once, but over and over at any post office I go to, the line is backed up to the door and there is only one, occasionally two, clerks working beside at least two closed windows.

Here's a hint: When the lines are nearly out the door, put a couple more clerks to work.

Now I read that the Postal Service is delivering millions of pieces of mail a year LESS than in years past. It seems I'm not the only one fed up with the post office's service. E-mail, faxes and private carriers have put a significant bite into the post office's business.

So guess what its solution is? You guessed it, a rate increase. Starting May 1, the Postal Service is going to stick us with a two-and-a-half percent jump in the cost of mailing a first-class letter. The price of a stamp will go from 41 to 42 cents. But it's only a penny, you say. Yeah, times the billions of pieces of first-class mail the Postal Service delivers every year.

By their own admission, postal employees are doing less work -- delivering millions less pieces of mail every year -- yet they are giving themselves a raise.

Here's a thought. With less work, could the Postal Service get by with less money?

Imagine this: Wal-Mart announces a big drop in sales for the year, and in the same breath it announces a substantial across-the-board price hike. Does that make sense? No. Only in the government's fuzzy logic does a decrease in work merit an increase in pay.

And here's another mostly overlooked tidbit: The Postal Service had teamed up with a direct marketing (read "junk mail") association/lobbying group to fight states' attempts to create and enforce "do not mail" lists. Why? Because the majority of the post office's revenue comes from bulk -- the post office calls it "standard" -- mail. We just call it junk mail.

In other words, to keep itself solvent, the U.S. Postal Service wants to keep flooding your mailbox with garbage that you neither want nor read.

Where are the environmentalists when we need them? Where's Al Gore? Does he know what kind of carbon footprint all that junk mail leaves behind?

What do you say?

Chuck out.

Share your tips and opinions with Chuck at chuckhustmyre@gmail.com.