The U.S. Postal Service today is a big business ($30 billion in annual revenues) as well as an enormous bureaucracy (780,000 employees). For months the Postal Service board has been looking for a replacement for outgoing Postmaster General Albert V. Casey, a former airline executive who streamlined an unwieldy management during his brief seven-month tenure. Last week the board picked Preston R. (Bob) Tisch, 60, president of Loews Corp. in New York City.
As a businessman, Tisch certainly looks like a winner. Starting with a single hotel in New Jersey, he and his brother Laurence built a $7 billiona-year conglomerate. Tisch's...