Save the US Postal Service Before It's Too Late

The rationale used by those leading the attack is that the USPS is losing money. In fact, it's a huge money maker, with operating profits in recent years of $1.4 billion. What has caused its financial problems is the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), an unprecedented law pushed through by politicians who serve the 1% requiring pre-funding of health benefits for USPS retirees for 75 years.

Those who delude themselves that the heavily subsidized "private" sector can do a better job than the USPS should be careful what they wish for.

The yearly tab for that monstrosity is $5.5 billion and the intent was precisely what is happening: the gutting of one of the country's most valued resources. No other agency is required to do anything remotely like pre-fund health benefits for 75 years. That the PAEA was rammed through by politicians who serve business elites should surprise no one. Their agenda, be they Republican or Democrat, is to destroy projects that serve the common good, especially hugely successful ones like the postal service. Further exposing their agenda is the profligate pre-funding requirement

Throughout the country, postal workers and community allies have prevented the closing of many facilities. Among the actions taken were a post office occupation in Oregon and the erection of a tent city in front of a facility in California. Several years ago, similar popular pressure stopped the attempted elimination of Saturday delivery service.

The large scale elimination of facilities has had the predictable result of increasing costs because of the greater distance mail must travel. Consider that an item mailed from a Bridgeport address to another Bridgeport address, for example, now goes to a distribution facility in Kearny, New Jersey before arriving at its final destination, then consider that the same rocket scientists who came up with that one hail themselves as fiscally responsible and attack the USPS as inefficient. Fewer facilities also results in skyrocketing overtime for letter carriers unable to complete their routes in eight hours and longer commutes for workers who can be transferred as much as 50 miles with no appeal or recourse.

Over one hundred thousand good paying USPS jobs have been killed as a result of the privatization efforts, and virtually all new hires are temps whose benefits and wages are far lower than regular workers. For several years the privatizers also shifted much postal work to Staples, a company notorious for its hostility to employees, until a concerted community-worker campaign brought that to an end. Now the USPS intends to begin shifting work to Walmart, an employer with a record even worse than Staples.

One more ugly part of the story is the incestuous relationship between the USPS, privatizers and the corporate politicians. The contract to close post offices was awarded to the CBRE real estate firm whose CEO Robert Sulentic is on the Staples board of directors. Richard Blum, CBRE board chair until 2014, is married to multi-millionaire California Senator Dianne Feinstein. CBRE made millions from the deal.