It’s hard to name a more popular, familiar or reliable government entity than the Postal Service. Even in a wired world, snail mail still reigns vital, delivering medicine, election ballots and e-commerce goods. Hitting mailboxes soon: those $1,200 relief checks.
But this bedrock institution has struggled financially for years, never getting the right mix of political support and reform it needs. Now the coronavirus has arrived to worsen matters more.
Since the onset of the pandemic, mail volume has nosedived by a third as businesses skip advertising pitches and circulars that normally flood through door slots. That drop-off is likely to deepen, one reason the service sought $10 billion from the recent $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress. Without more funds, the mail may not go through, possibly by the end of September.
That sum isn’t the end of it. The service wants another $50 billion in a second round of stimulus money being debated. Without more funds, the mail may not go through, possibly by the end of September. That might mean less service and skipped paychecks for some 600,000 postal workers.
Letting this institution die sounds inconceivable but it could happen without money and attention. Though the system largely runs itself and hasn’t needed taxpayer support until now, it faces political headwinds worsened by an outdated business model.
President Trump is no fan. He shrugs off the financial peril by suggesting higher rates on packages, a slap at online giant Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post which repeatedly has angered the White House. So adamant is Trump that he threatened to block the relief bill until last-minute talks turned the postal bailout from a grant to a loan. Trump’s insistence on boosting package fees doesn’t hold up since other delivery outfits would likely siphon off the business if rates went up. That would leave the mail system even worse off.
In the past, small-government conservatives believed the mail should be privatized, a direction that risks downsized service and higher customer costs. Rural district lawmakers, who may have the final say, are on the fence, not wanting to harm a dependable system that anchors small towns.
There are other factors in play. This November’s presidential vote may include record numbers of mail-in ballots, a prospect that Trump has disparaged. Making sure that deliveries are secure and timely puts the postal system in the thick of the voting rights debate.
— San Francisco Chronicle
