In May 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to plan for the defense of the colonies against British attack. One of its first acts was to create the office of Postmaster General.
The goal of the U.S. Post Office, since its creation, has been to offer a universal service for all Americans.
“Private carriers can exclude certain areas in their delivery realm, leaving residents without access to their services altogether.”
“For centuries,” wrote then-Postmaster General John E. Potter in 2006, the Post Office “has strengthened the bonds of friendship, family, and community. Our system has encouraged civil discourse, disseminated information, and bolstered our national economy.”
Benjamin Franklin United States postage stamp
But now the Post Office is facing a double threat, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. Current Postmaster General Megan Brennan said in a recent statement that the COVID-19 outbreak could cost the agency as much as $54 billion in lost revenue. Perhaps more critically, there has long been a desire by rightwing political forces to push for the privatization of mail delivery.
According to The Washington Post, “At an Oval Office meeting more than a year ago, Trump decried to aides what he viewed as the dysfunction of the Postal Service and reiterated long-standing grievances about the costly effect on American taxpayers.”
President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently shot down attempts by Congress to provide emergency funds to the battered service as a part of the CARES Act. Mnuchin is now apparently seeking to impose significant controls on the operation of the USPS as a condition of approving the $10 billion loan to the agency that was already passed by Congress.
Although it provides a vital public service, USPS receives no taxpayer funds for its operation. At this time of “stay at home” restrictions, USPS is essential for providing home delivery of a variety of goods, including medicine and health care supplies. As the call for vote-by-mail has increased in response to the pandemic, postal delivery becomes critical to our democracy as well.
But letter carriers perform other, less formal, but equally essential community tasks. USPS facilitates the nation’s largest one-day food drive each year. And, as one postal worker told me, they are often the ones who check in on the elderly, and sometimes call 9-1-1. The late folk singer and former mailman John Prine chronicled this important community function in his classic 1971 ballad, “Hello in There.”
Perhaps most importantly, as noted in a recent online petition supporting the agency, “Private carriers can exclude certain areas in their delivery realm, leaving residents without access to their services altogether. The U.S. Postal Service, however, has the ‘universal service obligation’ to deliver everywhere.” Without this obligation, many people in remote rural areas or “dangerous” urban neighborhoods might simply be left out.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, recently told The New York Times, “The COVID crisis should not be used to achieve political aims.”
Dimondstein sees this happening right now as the workplace of all of his union’s more than 200,000 members is in jeopardy. “At the end of the day, they have an agenda: Raise prices, reduce worker benefits and reduce service, make it appear more profitable and set it up for sale.”
Trump's "Coronavirus Guidelines for America," delivered to the nation via USPS.
As Si Kahn and Elizabeth Minnich wrote in their 2005 book, The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy, “In those instances where our public systems are failing, they aren’t failing all on their own. They are being starved and broken.” The authors note the irony that “so many people have let themselves be convinced that it is our government that is attacking us, while the corporations that are tearing off hunks of public life… are portrayed as the good guys.”
Privatization of the Post Office has long been a goal of Donald Trump. In March 2017, a report produced by the Office of Management and Budget at the President’s request suggested preparing the Post Office “for future conversion from a Government agency into a privately held corporation.”
But when Trump wanted his “Coronavirus Guidelines for America” delivered to the nation, he sent it through the mail.