Letter: The U.S. Postal Service needs our support more than ever

Posted 9/3/20

President Donald J. Trump doesn’t want to lose his re-election. One of the ways he’s trying to stay in power is to try to impede the U.S. Postal Service in doing its job.

According …

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Letter: The U.S. Postal Service needs our support more than ever

Posted

President Donald J. Trump doesn’t want to lose his re-election. One of the ways he’s trying to stay in power is to try to impede the U.S. Postal Service in doing its job.

According to a joint statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer (D-N.Y.) Trump, “made it plain that he will manipulate the operations of the Postal Office to deny eligible voters the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election.”

How is he trying to do this? By denying much needed funds that the Postal Service needs to send out mail-in ballots. Also, he appointed a major Trump campaign contributor named Louis DeJoy as the new Postmaster General. Mr. DeJoy has ZERO experience in the mail industry.

DeJoy mentioned that he wants to remove some letter sorting machines that are extremely useful for mail to be processed expeditiously. He also told local postmasters that he wants some street corner mailboxes to be removed. He warned in a letter to 46 states that voters could be disenfranchised because their mail-in ballots may not be delivered in time to make election deadlines, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

These acts are making the postal service less efficient through no fault of its own. Truth be told, it’s been noted for many years that the postal service has had an approval rating of over 90 percent by the American people — more than any other agency in America. But what the postmaster general wants to do is basically make this institution, created in 1775, fail.

So why is the U.S. Postal Service struggling so much? The primary reason for this is a 2006 law called The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA). This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation. This law forces the U.S. Postal Service to pay 5.5 billion dollars annually towards future retirement benefits to people who are not even born yet.

Is the postal service perfect? No. Of course not. But with all of the technology that has made our lives easier, through the years, like fax machines, the internet, e-mails, Facebook to name a few, the U.S. Postal Service has strived to keep up with all this new technology, and if it wasn’t for the 2006 mandate, they would undoubtedly be in the black. I know. I delivered mail for 35 years. 

We must stop President Trump in trying to rig our coming general elections in his favor. The U.S. Postal Service should be a non-partisan entity and eager to serve the American people. We must demand that mail-in ballots be protected and delivered on time, especially during Covid-19.

Gerry Payette
Bristol

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