As a small-business owner and someone who relies on the Postal Service for all of my business shipping and mailing needs, I’m glad that there is finally momentum in Congress to reform the Postal Service. It’s vital for the future of my business that the Postal Service be functional and solvent.

It isn’t news to anyone that the Postal Service is in need of reform, as its financial struggles have been well publicized. However, how it is reformed will have significant implications for Californians, as well as for millions around the country. There are two bills ostensibly designed to reform the Postal Service moving through Congress: one in the House authored by Congressman Darrell Issa of California, and one in the Senate authored by Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. While the legislative movement is good, I’m concerned that both bills take the unfortunate position that we need to cut critical services in order to truly reform the Postal Service. There is a better way.

The Greeting Card Association, of which I am a proud member, recently released a report that laid out more than 100 alternative proposals that would put the Postal Service on the path to solvency without cutting critical services or raising rates. The report shows definitively that the supposed need to cut essential services does not exist. In fact, ending six-day delivery would not only drive away more mail volume, further accelerating the Postal Service’s decline, but it is doubtful the move would even achieve the $2 billion in cost savings its proponents project.

The GCA report outlines a simple, three-step process to reform the Postal Service in a more commonsense way:

• First, the Postal Service should install cluster boxes on a widespread national scale where it is feasible and makes the most sense. This would decrease the cost of postal delivery, increase operational efficiency and provide the Postal Service with another revenue stream by permitting consumers to pay a little more for door delivery if they prefer. This would affect less than 25 percent of delivery addresses and save as much as $9 billion.

• Second, there is virtually unanimous agreement the Postal Service should work with Congress to amend the way it prefunds retiree benefits. The Postal Service is the only federal agency that prefunds 100 percent of its retiree benefits 10 years in advance, a very stringent requirement that is causing a lot financial difficulty. While prefunding is important, amending this mandate to a more reasonable timetable would immediately improve the Postal Service’s condition.

• The third step, if the first two are not enough to put the Postal Service on a sustainable path, is to draw from a list of 53 alternative proposals in the report that the Postal Service could implement immediately, without congressional approval or collective bargaining.

The GCA has long been a strategic partner of the Postal Service, collaborating on things like the first Forever Stamp. That’s why the GCA released this report: to help shift the conversation toward real solutions that all stakeholders can agree with and move the ball forward before it’s too late for businesses like mine.

Thankfully, there are those in Congress who understand the importance of the six-day delivery and the impact its elimination would have on the millions of us who rely on it. In particular, my congresswoman, Rep. Karen Bass, has joined the bipartisan effort to protect six-day delivery and focus instead on other options, like those the GCA has outlined in its report. Bass recognizes that 8.4 million jobs nationwide, including mine, depend on a strong and robust Postal Service. Hopefully, more members of Congress, including fellow Californians like Rep. Issa, will join with her.

Postal reform is an issue I am passionate about, which is why I joined the Greeting Card Association – but it is also a critical issue that impacts every state in our nation, including California. That we must reform it to ensure its survival is matched in urgency by the need to preserve the Postal Service’s universal service and affordable prices.

Garin Hussenjian is founder and owner of Ginko Papers, an L.A. company that specializes in Japanese stationery, gifts, tape and the like.