GMAT Essays (AWA)

The following appeared in the opinion section of a national newsmagazine:

"To reverse the deterioration of the postal service, the government should raise the price of postage stamps. This solution will no doubt prove effective, since the price increase will generate larger revenues and will also reduce the volume of mail, thereby eliminating the strain on the existing system and contributing to improved morale."

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion, be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion. (used with permission from mba.com)


A columnist in a national newspaper opined on how the deteriorating postal service of a country could be revived and brought back to life. The columnist believes that by raising the price of postage stamps, the postal service will be able to garner larger revenues. In addition, higher price of postage stamps will dissuade people from using the postal service, thereby reducing the strain on the postal department, which is believed to be over-burdened. The columnist opines that this single step will in turn help in improving the morale of the department.

It is clear from the columnist's opinion that the postal department is currently not able to efficiently cater to the large volumes of business it is attracting. As suggested by the writer, one of the ways to improve the efficiency could be by raising the price of the postage stamps. The author assumes that the postal department must not be saddled with huge fixed costs. If it is not so, then decreasing volumes of business, despite higher price of postage stamps, will not meet the fixed costs of the department. Fixed costs of a postal department could include, salaries of the staff, infrastructure costs viz. rent, electricity bills, vehicle service costs, retirement benefits of the employees etc. Also, decreasing the volume of mails on one hand, and increasing the price of the postage stamps on the other sounds quite paradoxical.

The author's suggestion could prove correct if the department not only increases the price of postage stamps, but also aims to cut its costs significantly to improve its financial health. Secondly, it must be assumed that the increase in price of postage stamp will reduce the volumes only up to a level which will keep the postal department profitable. If the above assumptions are true, then the author's suggestions could indeed bear the desired results for the morale of the postal department.