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Monday, August 9th, 2021

The Postal Service Presses Forward With Unpopular Plan To Slow Some Mail Delivery

Author:     Brian Naylor
Source:     npr
Publication Date:     August 6, 20212:13 PM ET
 Link: The Postal Service Presses Forward With Unpopular Plan To Slow Some Mail Delivery
Stephan:   Benjamin Franklin, during the colonial period the Deputy Post Master General, during the Constitutional Convention convinced the other Founders of the importance of the Post Office and made such an impression that they literally wrote its importance into the Constitution. At the other end of the spectrum two centuries later we have Trumpian orc and grifter Louis DeJoy, who is doing his best to privatize the Post Office completely and to sabotage it in its present configuration.
The price of a first-class stamp will go up 3 cents later in August to help pay for service changes.
Credit: Jenny Kane/AP

Two of the newly confirmed members of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors spoke out Friday against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s plan to slow delivery of first-class mail.

But the board took no steps to stop or even modify the 10-year plan despite the concerns expressed by the board members and regulators.

Ronald Stroman, one of three new governors named by President Biden, said that intentionally slowing first-class mail and package delivery by changing service standards is “strategically ill-conceived, creates dangerous risks that are not justified by the relatively low financial return, and doesn’t meet our responsibility as an essential part of America’s critical infrastructure.”

Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general, noted at the Board of Governors open meeting that the country was “only beginning to emerge from a global pandemic” and is now struggling with the delta variant and that mail delivery was below pre-pandemic levels.

He added that the changes “disproportionally impact our seniors, middle- and low-income Americans, [and] small […]

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1 Comment

  1. Tom N on Monday, August 9, 2021 at 10:10 am

    Postal Service

    The US Postal Service has been around since the beginning of this Republic. I am saddened by the financial shambles it seems to be in, and the lackluster service it delivers these days. I’m certain COVID played a part in the recent decline. However, it seems that missed opportunities are much more to blame than just COVID (or Republicans). The US postal service has served the entire US forever. UPS, FEDERAL EXPRESS and others did not go nationwide until the mid 1970’s! For almost 200 years the USPS had essentially a “monopoly” on 48 state delivery service. Had there been some FORWARD thinking and ingenuity at USPS, they would probably have $200+ billion in revenue (instead of $70B,) would OWN the market and not be in this never ending loss predicament. No competition would be needed to fill the void (or ever even tried to establish itself). Because of lack of foresight USPS is now left with all the unprofitable routes, and it has only itself (and prior management) to blame.