By Lynne Stevens
Special to The Graham Star
“Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
These nostalgic words used to be familiar to Americans, as their cherished post offices delivered the mail.
The importance of the delivery of mail from the Pony Express to Rural Free Delivery became a reliable staple of American life. With the rural delivery of mail, Farmer Jones was able to learn more efficient ways to farm, and with catalogs like Montgomery Wards and Sears, he was able to obtain tools necessary to help him be more productive.
The United States Postal system was created in 1775 by Congress, and the first Postmaster was Benjamin Franklin.
It is the largest civilian employer and a not-for-profit organization.
The intent was for the Postal Service to be self-supporting, using income from letter stamps and package delivery. There is no question that the USPS is not self-supporting anymore for a variety of reasons, including the use of email and cell phones, rather than letters.
The parcel delivery part of the business is profitable. There are rumors that the USPS delivers packages for Amazon and others below cost.
This has been disproved by Politifact and further, the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act makes it illegal for the USPS to price parcel delivery below its cost.
There is another huge issue with profitability. USPS is mandated to pay 75 years of future retiree health insurance in advance, rather than “pay-as-you-go,” as their competitors do. A November payment of $5 billion became due and the USPS was not able to pay. The payments were mandated by Congress, to shore up unfunded future health benefits.
It is unquestionable that this pre-funding is a significant cause of the flowing red ink at the Postal Service.
There have been many credible ideas proposed to improve financial footing, including employee wages and federal retirement benefits.
The median carrier makes approximately $17.60/hour, with starting pay around $15/hour, including federal employee benefits. These wages appear to be in line with UPS workers excepting the Federal benefits package.
Unions are also part of the problem. They need to accept automation, part-time workers and other efficiencies to work through the red ink. The Postal Regulatory Commission sets rates which should – but does not – accommodate acquisition of necessary new technologies, which will increase efficiency and lower costs in the longer term.
There is a move afoot to privatize the USPS, which may not be smooth sailing. It is a part of the government, according to a Supreme Court Ruling in 2004. The politically-appointed Board of Governors can set the USPS up for privatization, but cannot sell what is not theirs to sell. It was set up by an act of Congress and it will take an act of Congress to dispose of any part of it, according to a Postal Employees Union.
In reality, the USPS outsources many of its operations already and notably, the USPS delivers approximately ¹⁄3 of the packages of other carriers, partially due to their infrastructure that reaches every American household.
Robbinsville’s Post Office is an integral part of our community. Any attempt to sell it off to profit-making interests could result in reduction of services and inconvenient centralized access to remaining services.
There is also a matter of the 2020 election, where the most responsible solution to protect public health in a pandemic are mail-in ballots, which will increase USPS revenue. There are pro-privatization and anti-privatization forces at work. Polls show Americans have loyalty to the Post Office and politically privatizing the USPS would not sit well, particularly in rural and suburban areas.
The current administration is currently moving to privatization. The bottom line is: will a segmented postal system really work and will it really save costs?
One thing is likely: if the USPS is sold off, the way we interact with our mail system will be different. Realistically, the costs either way must go up and investment in technology must happen, but does the fabric that holds the system together have to be sacrificed to do it?
Lynne Stevens is a resident of Robbinsville.