Changes would devastate postal service

Dear Editor,

Access to an affordable means of conducting commerce across our nation is in dire jeopardy should the recommendations of a June White House report on government reorganization be adopted. Rural, small town and home-based businesses would be in particular peril. Postage would increase and service would decrease. In tandem with the anticipated release of the Presidential Task Force Report on the Postal System, the recent White House report ratchets up the threat level to our nation’s post offices, national mail infrastructure, and rural America.

It is important to note that the Postal Service does not receive taxpayer dollars to finance its operations. Nevertheless, a government-run postal system is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Poll-after-poll has heralded the Postal Service as one of the most cherished entities — public or private — in the nation.

Our postal system relies on postage, a fee-for-service means of funding. Shrinking letter mail volume has taken its toll on postal revenue; however, the present financial pressures on the U.S. Postal Service are attributable primarily to a unique and unfair 2006 congressional directive that forces the Postal Service to prefund the retirement health benefits of both current and future postal retirees. No other public or private employer is forced to meet this obligation. Other employers account for the obligation on their financial statement and may contribute to reducing their liability; but, only the Postal Service is required to fully prefund that future retiree obligation.

Two so-called remedies have been floated by the White House. The first would import a failed foreign privatized postal system that has increased postage rates across Europe and diminished residential mail service. For example, between 2008 and 2016, the average price for sending a domestic letter in European countries has increased 9.4% per year. Currently, the price of a letter-stamp is the European equivalent of $1.00. The second White House proposal would arbitrarily and dramatically increase postage for products that are purchased online or through catalogs. Regrettably, this proposal is the result from a feud between President Trump and Amazon, and unproven grievances presented to the President by UPS. Both of these proposals would lead to a United States postal system that fails America and fails its citizens.

In order to preempt any congressional or White House actions that could be devastating to our American postal system, I urge my neighbors to call the office of their members of Congress to cosponsor House Resolution 993, a bipartisan resolution, which declares that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization. In addition, I ask my neighbors to let their members of Congress know that the postal rates should not be arbitrarily raised to meet the financial needs of one of the Postal Service’s competitors.

Cathy Schievelbein,

Retired Arapahoe

postmaster, UPMA national representative