USPS and a really wonderful feel good story

AW Admin

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As a kid, I lived way out in the boondocks. I'd read all the books at the tiny village public library. The USPS was my lifeline to the larger world. Kinda like Elly in this feel-good story about the USPS.

Seriously, read it, it's wonderful.

The USPS hasn't received Federal monies in years; postage stamps pay the costs. But the problems of a crippling legal requirement that retirement/pension monies be fully funded in advance (unlike any other U.S. business), and the growth of the Internet have caused some money problems.

Now, when we need delivery to our homes, and an increase need for mail-in absentee ballots, USPS is really hurting. Some of this is because the bulk mail (catalogs, etc.) that pays the way for other mail is not being sent right now because of self-isolation, essential workers only, etc. That's a big drop in income.

The Senate has proposed special Coronavirus funding as part of a bill with several measures for financial and medical aid of various kinds; Trump says he'll veto any bill that gives any funding to the USPS.

Trump has been overtly hostile to the USPS. He called it a joke. His idiotic assertion is that the USPS needs to raise prices just for Amazon. His reason? Trump doesn't like Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon, because Trump doesn't like the Washington Post, also owned by Amazon. In other words Trump wants to hurt Bezos by hurting the USPS and all of us who depend on it.

The beauty of the USPS, established in our Constitution, is that everyone is the same. Everyone pays the same flat rate for first class mail. You can get your first class letter on a dirt road in northern Maine or in Los Angeles, for the same flat rate. We're equal.

So do yourself and a friend a solid. Buy some USPS stamps or some notecards or postcards. Mail some letters. Let someone know you're thinking about them or missing them.

And leave your carrier a thank you note. They have a rough job at the best of times. It's really hard now.
 

mccardey

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That is a lovely story. Imagine getting one Em's letters - the envelope alone would be such a delight :)
 

Ari Meermans

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That's such a sweet story. I keep saying if there's any hope for this country, it'll come from Em's generation. Breaks my heart, too.

In February, the House passed the USPS Fairness Act (H.R. 2382) which repeals the onerous retirement pre-funding requirement the USPS has struggled with for years. A companion bill (S. 2965) was introduced in the Senate but there has been no action. I asked Kamala Harris to look into the reason for the non-action on the bills when she brought up the plight of the USPS and Trump's animosity on Twitter. Looks like I'm going to have to get aggressive and start sending them all letters.

The Postal Service has lost money for 13 consecutive years and a majority of those losses stemmed from the prefunding requirement. In fiscal 2019, for example, 83% of the $8.8 billion the agency lost came from payments into its retiree pension fund and retiree health benefits fund. Critics of the mandate include a range of Republicans, Democrats, mailers and labor unions. They have estimated the law requires USPS to fund the benefits for retirees up to 75 years in the future, an obligation virtually no other government entities face.
 
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Snitchcat

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Ooh, cool story! Love it! Thanks for sharing this.
 

AW Admin

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There's a lot of pressure from private interests to make the USPS disappear. There's money to be made!

Again, the reason the Constitution establishes the USPS as a Federal entity is that:

It allows equal access to everyone


 

Maryn

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That's the biggie to me. While I've never lived in a remote area, I've lived in states that had vast areas sparsely populated, speckled with tiny towns, remote ranches, and reservations. Other delivery companies refuse them service; they can't make a profit running a letter or package down 40 miles of bad road.

The post office is vital for people like that. We owe mail delivery availability to everyone in this country.

Maryn, adamant
 

Lavern08

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Humpf!

Just purchased another book of stamps the other day, and I still send greeting cards via the USPS - I love surprising Peeps, and love it even more, when they reciprocate. :)
 

MaeZe

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Sad Happy stories always make me cry.


This is a good idea:
Admin said:
Looks like I'm going to have to get aggressive and start sending them all letters.
I send a jillion emails. Time to send some letters.

And writing to nursing home patients. I'm going to look into that (for the addresses).
 
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Jason

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Nope, no tears here...don’t even ask.

Anyone have a tissue though?
 

ShadowWrites

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USPS is personally my favorite mail carriers. They're super kind and my family loves them. When they come and deliver stuff to us, we like to hand them a bottle of water due to the excessive heat where we live at.
 

MaeZe

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We had the same carrier for many years, he's retired now.

He donated his kidney to a coworker. That's the kind of guy he is.
 

Rick Albert

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postal workers should get the money they need. If they weren't there how would we have been able to talk to other people before the phone, radio services existed or internet was developed. I think it was the postal service that did this. Is this not so. They work in the worst conditions and just ask that we buy stamps for letters. The things we have are due to the past. Without their work we would have nothing. Wouldn't we? Well would we?

I think not. We had people who did their jobs, Who accepted us to do these things. The past is what we have to learn from their work, to our saying thanks to them.
 

DeleyanLee

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Yet another reason to get McConnell out of control of the Senate. Think of all the bills he's been sitting on that never saw the light of day. I'm sure it's because he thinks they'd pass, and he can't stand that.