SO(P)S: Save Our Postal Service

The post office – the postal service – is an institution as important and rooted in our community as the school system or the fire department, but different, too. It touches every person’s life, probably every day. Funded by the federal government, it costs us next to nothing. The postage we pay for, whether to mail an envelope across town or a box around the world, is subsidized; the expense is much more than we are charged.

Americans have among the cheapest postage rates in the world, certainly compared to Europe. Here, a stamp costs fifty-five cents. That is half the average price in the European Union. Mailing a letter in those nations ranges from fifty-five cents in Malta to $4.24 in Denmark. Postage in England is $0.89, in Ireland $1.09 and Norway $1.87. We get quite the bargain.

Yes, there are fundamental problems with the post office. They are not what is commonly criticized nor are budget deficits a result of cheap rates for Amazon shipping.

Established by the Constitution and in the Treasury Department for the next 30 years, the Post Office Department became the U.S. Postal Service, a government-owned corporation, in 1971.

In 2006 Congress and President George W. Bush, in a trifecta of Republican Party control, passed and signed into law a requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund its retiree health benefits at $5.5 billion annually to cover 75 years into the future. For the last 15 years that has been the source of the Postal Service’s deficits.

Now President Donald Trump refuses to approve a $10 billion loan to the USPS guaranteed under April’s $2 trillion CARES Act. He sees an opportunity to force massive shipping rate increases or the big prize: privatize the Postal Service.

Timing is everything.

This is an opportunity to act as a citizen and call or write the president and tell him to support, not crush, the U.S. Postal Service. The White House phone number is (202) 456-1111. Or send him a letter or postcard, the old fashioned way. The address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500. That is fifty-five cents for a letter or thirty-five cents for a postcard. Quite the bargain to communicate with the nation’s chief executive.