Six months ago, I wrote an Open Letter to our congressmen complaining about the poor service our subscribers were receiving from the Post Office. Congressmen Jim Clyburn and Joe Wilson sent my letter on to the Columbia Postmaster who called me saying, "Call them off! Call them off! I get the message. We will fix the problem."

The only change has been slower service. We take The Columbia Star to the Bulk Mail Office on Thursday before noon with the guarantee our subscribers will receive it Friday. Very few do. Most get it Monday or Tuesday. It takes six days for the newspaper to go across town.

Their current excuse is the shape of the newspaper. They want us to throw away what Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin first established 200 years ago and begin printing on 8.5X11 sheets of paper.

More and more weekly newspapers are giving up on the Post Office and going to private distributors or to free distribution. Not understanding the situation they have brought on themselves, the USPS has recently announced a 25% raise in the newspaper rate.

So once again I apologize to our subscribers who received The Columbia Star late. We continue to make the same terrible mistake, trusting the government.