A few years back, while on our way to Idaho, we were driving thru Montana on I90. A more desolate road I had never seen. Miles and miles of nothing but pronghorn antelope and an occasional road sign warning of cattle on the road. Now and then there would be a driveway that seemed to lead to nowhere. as far back as you could see on the flat prairie there was nothing, but where the driveway met the highway, there was a mailbox.
When we stopped for lunch, I made mention of that to our waitress. She gave me the strangest look. "How would folks get their mail elsewise?" she replied. "there's no post office 'cept in town twenty miles away." We were surprised to say the least.
At the time a stamp probably cost thirty-two cents. That meant I could drop a letter in my mailbox on the street corner in Chicago, and someone would deliver it to a mailbox on I90 in the middle of nowhere. That was a real bargain, and it still is even though the cost a stamp has gone up twenty cents.
But in fact the Post Office is not in the business of making money, although contrary to popular opinion it does pay its operating expenses. But due to a ridiculous law imposed by Congress in 2006, the Post Office has to pay into a $72 billion fund for post-retirement health care 75 years into the future. No other organization, public or private has to meet such a requirement.
There are over 630,000 employees at the United States Postal Service (USPS), and they handle over 146-billion pieces of mail every year. If you look at the USPS as a retail operation, it is larger than McDonalds and Walmart combined. Their network stretches across the country from New York City to a mailbox in the Alaskan backcountry, and Hawaii too.
Of all the government agencies the Post Office ranks highest in approval ratings. 91% of Americans approve of the job that it does. But numbered among its fans is not the president, Donald J. Trump. Trump's dislike of the Post Office borders on obsession. it all begins with his dislike of Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post. Can't make the connection ? Well, one of the largest users of the postal service is Amazon. Amazon's CEO is Jeff Bezos, the company has made Bezos the richest man in the world.
Donald Trump despises anyone who is a genius with business acumen, the one thing he said he was, and the one thing that he surely is not. To say nothing of the Post's unrelenting criticism of Trump's presidency. To assuage Trump's ego, aides told him that the reason that Amazon is doing so well, is that Bezos made a sweetheart deal with the Post Office. With no data to back up that allegation, Trump demanded that the Post Office double its rates. When he was told that he would need Congress to approve that, and that regardless, the contract with Amazon would still stand, Trump began his backdoor attack on the USPS.
Trump badgered the Postmaster General, Megan Brennan - who began her career as a mail carrier and was the first woman to hold that position - until she announced her resignation. Trump then appointed Louis DeJoy to her position. DeJoy's greatest qualification for the job was that he had contributed over two million dollars to the GOP since 2016.
On the premise of streamlining the USPS, and increasing profits, DeJoy began dismantling it. Guess no one told him that the Post Office was a service of the US government and not a business. DeJoy began replacing the top executives who had been with the service for years and who knew how to oversee the day-to-day operations. He reduced or restricted overtime hours, removed postal drop boxes, and was about to begin dismantling a number of the giant mail sorting machines. Mail carriers were also instructed to leave excess mail at the distribution centers. An unintended consequence to crippling Amazon deliveries, was Trumps other bug-a-boo, mail-in voting.
For whatever reason, Trump feels that stopping or massively slowing down of absentee ballots will give him a better chance of winning in November. I guess Republicans only vote in person. Many of the primary elections this spring exposed the problems of in-person voting during the pandemic. Many people were afraid of going to the polls, and many of the polls, especially those in predominantly black and poor neighborhoods were closed causing long lines that prohibited social distancing. Consequently, many people turned to mail-in ballots.
When the Post Office Centers began sending letters to several states saying that there would be a delay in processing absentee ballots, there was a hue and cry and not just by folks who wanted to vote by mail, but from ordinary citizens who depend on the postal service for delivery of their medications, and Social Security checks. The VA sends meds, via the mail, to veterans who desperately need those prescriptions. And wonder of wonders the administration decided that perhaps this wasn't the time to cut services. Even Trump felt the blow back.
And now lets go one step further, in addition to protecting the integrity of the Post office, let's expand the USPS mandate. Let's consider resurrecting postal banking. Until 1967, the Post office offered limited banking services. I can remember buying 'war stamps' at the post office, I believe they were twenty-five cents and when you filled your book with stamps you could turn it in for a 'War Bond'.
The Post office offered a savings program also, but the greatest asset to Postal Banking is there will be no need for the predatory "payday lenders". There are more than 17,000 post offices where there are only one, or no, branch bank locations. This would give people who currently do not have a bank account, access to banking services; such as direct deposit of their Social Security checks and check cashing capabilities. Today, many countries including France and New Zealand offer postal banking services. Let's face it, the Post office is the US government's best functioning agency, I think it's time to expand on it.
I'm just sayin'
