October 4, 2011
As a letter carrier, my job will be directly effected by how Congress and the President respond to Postmaster General Donahoe’s requests. Donahoe is asking for Saturday delivery to be eliminated. He also wants to close thousands of post offices nationwide, break union contracts and layoff 120,000 workers!!! All he really needs to ask is that the USPS be relieved from the onerous burden of a prefunding financial obligation of $5.5 billion per year! Unfortunately, Postmaster General Donahoe doesn’t see the USPS as a national treasure- a 200 year old piece of America’s infrastructure. Sadly, this CEO of the USPS does not have the best interest of the public at heart. To make matters worse, Donahoe is in league with that Issa-Ross bill which plans to decrease street delivery so only 25% of the public will get mail! How will they decide who gets mail and who doesn’t?
As a passionate letter writer, I am concerned about how my letters will be handled and delivered with some of these very crazy plans that are being batted around in the media. Eliminating Saturday delivery, reducing street delivery, and reducing the number of jobs necessary to get the mail where it needs to go- all of these ideas will definitely erode the service.
OK…there is no doubt that the post office needs modification. However, none of the above concepts mentioned do anything to improve the service. They all diminish the service we all love and depend on.
I personally wrote a letter filled with positive suggestions to Postmaster General Donahoe. My letter never reached him. I got a brush off response from some postal bureaucrat saying I didn’t use the proper channels so my letter will not be recognized.
My attempt to reach across the gap fell short. However, I am encouraged to hear that the USPS is currently running TV ads to promote writing and sending letters!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
…to be continued
Reference: Carriers in a Common Cause. A History of Letter Carriers and the NALC. ©2006