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I want to thank the U.S. Postal Service, aka, USPS or simply, the Post Office.
To be honest, that might sound a little strange coming from my lips (fingertips). I’ve never been a huge fan of the local capabilities. Delivery of my mail to my neighbors (and my neighbors’ mail to me) has been so routine that we have developed a secondary re-delivery system in my townhouse farm community. Recently the post office added a new twist: put a key in the box that supposedly opens the bigger “oversized mail” section for relatively small packages – only to have the key not match up with the box they actually put the packages into. Still, most mail does arrive. Eventually.
But I’ve realized this year, and especially this last month, require an additional level of patience, and yes, appreciation, for the work mail carriers and post office workers are doing.
Consider that the post office normally delivers about 472 million pieces of mail every day to every address and post office box in America. While the amount of personal letters and cards have been displaced by email and e-cards, the amount of package traffic has grown steadily. As most people likely noticed, many of the alternative (aka, more expensive) delivery services, as well as huge shippers like Amazon, often contract with the Post Office for the final “doorstep/mailbox” delivery. Contrary to the oft-told lies about what Amazon pays for delivery, the Post Office actually has a positive revenue. The problem is that Congress in 2006 required USPS to pre-fund for 75-years all retiree health care costs, an exorbitant lump cost no other agency or corporation is required to do. [The requirement is part of the Republican party’s attempt to force the privatization of USPS.]
Enter COVID.
With people quarantined, locked down, and otherwise staying put, the amount of first class mail is down, but during this holiday season the amount of online orders – and packages in need of delivery – has skyrocketed. One local mail carrier reported that he normally delivers 20-40 packages a day on his route; that number has recently risen to 150. Other reports suggest 5 to 10 times the normal package volume. This is why Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased by $70 billion dollars while many Americans are struggling just to keep their jobs.
Okay, now add a presidential election. We saw a huge increase in mail-in voting because of the pandemic, and that was on top of a significant increase in the overall number of people voting in this critical election. All those mail-in ballots had to reach election offices within a fairly narrow window. Trump put his billionaire buddy in as Postmaster General in June specifically to delay mail-in ballot delivery, which included removing perfectly operational mail sorting machines. Career postal workers had to pick up the slack on the now-slower hand-sorting process in an attempt to keep the ballots, along with the rest of the mail, flowing. These rank-and-file workers then had to deal with irate customers complaining about delayed delivery, as I personally witnessed on Friday.
And it isn’t over. The Senate runoff election in Georgia has stimulated another massive mail-in voting avalanche. Most of that is centered within Georgia, but voter-turnout operations have led millions of Americans to send tens of millions of postcards and letters from all over the country into the state. On the front end this is good for the post office as each item means revenue from stamps, but it increases the volume of mail that needs to be delivered, and thus the already overwhelming burden during the holidays.
Oh, and did I mention that Post Office staff have been hit hard by COVID, forcing many out of action due to sickness or close contact with others testing positive. Around 100 post office employees have died from COVID. Close to 10% of the workforce have lost at least some work time due to the pandemic. This puts more burden on those who do make it to work.
So yes, even in my grumpiness I must admit that the post office deserves thanks from all of us even as we wait for delayed delivery. This year has highlighted the worst of some of us, but also the best of some of us as we push through difficult times. At the very least we can show a little appreciation, and a lot of patience, with the post office this holiday season. Frankly, they deserve a break.
So to all postal service employees (and private delivery people too): Thank you!
P.S. I’m still waiting for my 2021 calendar to arrive.
P.P.S. If you live in Georgia, VOTE!
David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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