Back in the 1990s, I co-owned a magazine about animation. I relied on the Post Office.
I used the Post Office to get my magazine to the distributors and to the subscribers.
Every time I went to the Springfield Post Office I received great service and advice.
I never worried about dealing with the Post Office. Now, getting money from distributors and the advertisers was my real concern.
Think of the everyday services the Post Office offers small businesses and individuals.
How many small businesses rely on those services? I buy DVDs from Vinegar Syndrome in Bridgeport, CT. They are sent by mail. The shampoo bars I buy are sent by mail. Small businesses use the Post Office. It’s convenient, affordable and, until recently, reliable.
What is happening now to the Post Office is at the very least an attack on the Constitution and at the worst is an act that seems fundamentally anti-American.
Eliminating sorting machines have hobbled the Post Office across the country – and several have been removed from the Hartford, CT postal facility.
A recent CNN story reported, “A Postal Service Inspector General report in 2019, found that 70 percent of businesses with fewer than 10 employees said they had used the Postal Service in the prior six months.”
The CNN report also included this quote, “The USPS – while certainly far from perfect – has a leveling effect on commerce, ensuring that even the smallest, home-based businesses can serve and have access to their customers,’ Molly Day, spokesperson for the National Small Business Association, said in an email.
As you probably know there have been announcements that these changes have been suspended.
On Aug. 18, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said, in reaction to the national criticism of steps he ordered, “I am announcing today the expansion of our current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country. Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout our organization. Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully supported by the Postal Service.
“I came to the Postal Service to make changes to secure the success of this organization and its long-term sustainability. I believe significant reforms are essential to that objective, and work toward those reforms will commence after the election. In the meantime, there are some longstanding operational initiatives – efforts that predate my arrival at the Postal Service – that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic. To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded.
“I want to assure all Americans of the following:
“In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand.”
But for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the fight is not over. She released this statement: “The Postmaster General’s alleged pause is wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked. The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works. All of these changes directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color. At the same time, we are highly concerned that the slowdown of the delivery of medicines to veterans is not being sufficiently addressed.
“We will deliver for America by voting on Saturday hopefully in a bipartisan way on Chairwoman Maloney’s ‘Delivering for America Act,’ providing $25 billion in support of the Postal Service as the USPS Board of Governors recommended, 100 percent appointed by Trump.
“The Postal Service is Election Central during the pandemic, and Democrats will not allow the President to force Americans to choose between their health and their vote.”
I suspect the fight for the health of the Post Office far from over.
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