If a business is to survive, it must be nimble and adapt to the changing needs and desires of its customers and the marketplace.

Yet the United States Postal Service's operations have not been modernized in more than 30 years.

The laws governing the current operations of the postal service were written when it was a virtual monopoly. But we're now in the midst of a communications revolution. Did we have e-mail 30 years ago? Widespread use of faxes? Bicycle messengers? Electronic banking?

The postal service still sets rates the way it used to, and still operates under an archaic system of oversight that is widely considered to be an obstacle to innovation. It has also been saddled with a long-term pension liability for employees who previously served in the military, amounting to billions of dollars.

For example, when the postal service wanted to raise postage rates, it took up to nine months -- and a number of lawsuits -- before it could do so. That's no way to run a business.

For a decade, lawmakers have labored over legislation to bring the postal service up-to-date. A lot of interests have engaged in the process, including unions, catalog companies, magazine publishers, newspapers and alternate-mail companies such as Federal Express and United Parcel Service. Among other issues, FedEx and UPS were concerned that they were competing against a government monopoly and they didn't want to see reforms that would unfairly disadvantage them.

Last week, Congress finally managed to put an end to the decade of wrangling and passed a House-Senate compromise bill authored by Sen. Susan Collins. It hasn't been a high-profile crusade for the senator but somebody had to do it and Collins should be commended for the effort she put into making reform happen.

The bill modernizes the rate-setting process and increases will be capped at the inflation rate for the next 10 years.

That will give large mailers who depend on using the postal service a greater degree of predictability as they contemplate costs.

Tougher oversight will come from a revamped review commission, among whose important roles will be ensuring that the monopolistic postal service plays fairly and doesn't abuse its power in the competitive marketplace.

The pension liability for postal workers who served in the military will be shifted back to the Treasury Department, where it belongs, freeing up the postal service to use its resources to do the work it's charged to do.

Reform is not easy and when it happens, it's usually less than would be ideal.

In this case, significant reform has been accomplished and we can look forward to a United States Postal Service that will work better, more efficiently and responsively than before.