In July 2011 the United States Postal Service (USPS) management announced it would rapidly close 3600 local post offices and eventually as many as 15,000. And shutter half the nation’s mail processing centers. A frenzy of grassroots activity erupted as citizens in hundreds of towns mobilized to save a treasured institution that plays a key and … Read More
“When the post office is closed, the flag comes down. When the human side of government closes its doors, we’re all in trouble.” Senator Jennings Randolph (West Virginia) 1958-85 For the post office the end game is on. This year the post office will close half its processing centers. By late spring a first class … Read More
“Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.” Bill Fletcher Jr. of the Institute for Policy Studies tells of how he was reminded of that covenant when in the middle of superstorm Sandy he saw a postal van traveling on his street. And he reminded us that we … Read More
If chutzpah is killing your parents then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court because you’re an orphan then Peter Orszag is the poster child for chutzpah. In his recent article in Bloomberg News he insists the best fix for the post office is to take it private. Where does the chutzpah come from? Orszag … Read More
As every 6 year old learns, there is real and there is make believe. The massive Post Office deficit that is driving management to commit institutional suicide by ending 6 day delivery, closing half of the nations’ 30,000 or so post offices and half it’s 500 mail processing centers, and laying off over 200,000 workers, is … Read More
On May 15, 2012 Mark Jamison wrote a heartfelt valedictory letter to his community. He begins, “It’s likely that I will be the last postmaster to serve the town of Webster, North Carolina.” And goes on to tell us what he thinks the post office was and should be and what it is becoming. As most … Read More
In These Times. April 26, 2012 “Congress created this manufactured crisis…, and Congress must solve this,” declared Sally Davidow, spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), which has resisted congressional efforts to curtail USPS service and eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. This week, Congress took a step toward solving the USPS’ problems—but postal workers’ … Read More
The US Post Office needs money. As this chart shows, US postal rates, at 45 cents for a first class stamp, are the lowest in the world, often by far, excluding a few small island countries. Yet Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, set up by Congress in 2006 to oversee the Post Office, has proven unwilling … Read More
Star Tribune, April 9, 2012 In this piece in the Star Tribune David Morris speaks out on the need to stop the tidal wave of post office closings that will occur when the Post Office’s self-imposed moratorium ends in mid May. Last year, 3,600 communities, about 90 in Minnesota, were notified that they’ll probably lose their … Read More
