Maybe you’ve noticed the birthday card that arrived late or the check in the mail that didn’t pay your credit card on time. it’s not your imagination. mail has definitely gotten less fast.
The United States Postal Service began delaying first-class mail deliveries across the country on October 1. 1.
The price of a stamp rose in August (from 55 cents to 58 cents) and, in addition, temporary holiday price increases for packages and other mail are now in effect.
everything spells trouble for the agency, says porter mcconnell, co-founder of the save the post office coalition, an organization of progressive consumer and political groups.
“Every postal expert in the country and around the world really knows that you don’t slow down service and raise prices at the same time and expect customers to stick around,” McConnell tells npr. “People will use the postal service less, revenues will go down, and then they’ll have to make more cuts. So, essentially, you’re sending the post office into a death spiral.”
it’s already called ‘postal mail’
cuts in service are especially concerning for rural America.
Tom Giessel, a wheat farmer in Larned, Kan., and a member of the Kansas Farmers Union, says that everything from bees to baby chicks is mailed.
“we depend on the mail for a lot of things. I rely on it for my farm co-op billing. They allow discounts if you pay within five days of receiving the bill. and, you know, if they keep slowing down the mail, so I don’t get it in time to get a discount,” says giessel.
The postal service says that 61% of first-class mail will not be affected by the slowdown, which is due in part to the agency’s decision to rely less on airmail delivery and more on ground transportation.
The postal service did not make anyone available for an interview for this story, but in a video on its website, postmaster general louis dejoy defended the cut, part of the postal service’s delivery plan for america , as needed:
The postal service lost $9.2 billion in fiscal year 2020.
Kevin Yoder is a former Republican lawmaker who heads a new group called Keep Us Informed, which is made up of mail users like greeting card companies and small newspapers. he calls this a “key moment” for the postal service.
“It’s one of America’s most trusted institutions that Americans rely on every day in this country,” Yoder says. “And this is an essential service that we think many of us have taken for granted, and now it’s facing challenges and needs our help.”
One thing that would help, Yoder says, is for Congress to pass the Postal Service Reform Act, legislation that would eliminate the requirement that the Postal Service prepay its retirees’ health benefits, saving the agency an estimated $46 billion over 10 years. the measure has bipartisan support but has not been approved by either house.
some suggest postal banking, printing and photocopying
McConnell, of the save the post office coalition, says the postal service should also leverage its network of more than 31,000 post offices to increase revenue.
“there are more post offices than mcdonald’s and starbucks combined,” he says. “We should turn those post offices into a community center. You can bring back postal banking. You can offer office services like printing, copying, faxing. You can do free wi-fi in the parking lot.”
mcconnell says the postal service “doesn’t need to apologize for its presence in our communities.”
In fact, the postal service has launched a very limited experiment in postal banking in the washington-baltimore area and the bronx in new york city. Advocates say the agency needs to do more to grow its business without cutting services further.