Our postal service is a fixture in our society that some of us have a need to attack. We hear the common phrases like “going postal” or expect that the post office will deliver the mail through rain, sleet, and so on. By the way an architect just put that phrase on a postal building they constructed a long time ago, but it was never a policy. We complain about stamps and long lines at Christmas time. But what would we do without the post office and USPS mail delivery since it now has an uncertain future that could impact you with the government now talking again of getting rid of it?
I’ve had troubles with the post office. In any business you are going to get some difficult people. Apart from that, they will be in any business and sorry we have to deal with that the best we can. Most of the time they are very professional. My only problem was when they lost a package and thankfully they found it! Nevertheless, I have gotten stuff through UPS and FedEx that came damaged and disappear too. I remember one time at a job where UPS ran over the package with a forklift. That never happened at the post office. My problems with shippers, post office included, were all resolved.
But if we lost the post office and USPS mail delivery the future of our life would be harder. Do you think all the online companies we deal with wouldn’t pass on the increased costs to us? Of course they would! And just price compare how much it costs to send something small from one end of the country to another. Remember the post office will go everywhere. So if you live in some small town in the country and you are mailing something to someone in another small town clear across the country the post office can handle it and do it fairly inexpensively.
I was surprised to discover the post office is used by other shippers as the last leg in shipment to smaller densely populated areas. So it you live in the middle of nowhere would you want to drive to the “big city” to pick up your package such as prescriptions where they have some sort of post office replacement?
Because if the government closed down the post office or allowed it to collapse I don’t envision some private company racing to set up these little post offices you see in every small town. Companies for years have wanted to deliver first class mail. But they wanted to do this in densely populated cities where they would essentially take the cream of the post offices business and leave the unprofitable business of small town mail services to the post office. There are many small towns that UPS, FedEx, or other companies won’t deliver to simply because they aren’t required too. It would cut into their bottom lines to do so.
Politicians have been trying to kill the post office for years. In 2006, they passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) requiring them to prefund 75 years of retirement benefits for its employees. So they were saving for the retirement benefits for workers not even born yet. Congress should have stretched any plan like this for multiple decades or mandated the same requirements for private companies. Fat chance that would ever happen! Well, I frankly think there’s a lot more going on here. The post office exists due to Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution to establish the post office. If they feel financial issues need to be addressed then address them, don’t kill the post office.
I live in a city so I am betting some private company springs up to replace our postal service if it’s gone. But I don’t see that happening any time soon since a great part of the country will get the short end with no more mail service.
Call your congressman to make sure they fix this uncertain future of our postal system and USPS mail delivery. I know some are all upset about voting by mail and I just did that and it was very convenient. Perhaps, the reason that it can be so intimidating to elected officials in shaky political waters is because voting by mail makes it easier for voters to change what is going on in this country. Voters don’t have to physically appear at the polls to risk their health and possible death due to the coronavirus or deal with poll watchers at some voting locations.
When you get some junk mail with a postage paid envelope you can do two things. Return without anything in the envelope to the company. They will think you forgot. Eventually they will get the idea and stop sending you junk. But you would be helping the post office.
We better carefully think about a country without the post office. Small town America may find itself cut off from the rest of us if this materializes.
