May 1, 2012 — The editor:
Having been an employee of the Postal Service for 40 years and serving in the Washington, D.C area for a decade there is another side of the USPS story.
Every article in our Constitution states a right to all citizens.
Article I Section 8 speaks to the governments’ role in society by providing a public service for the good of all the people by establishing the Post Office Department, which was never designed to make a profit.
Not one single government department, Agriculture, HUD, FEMA, Defense, Education, etc., has ever made a profit. All government agencies, except the postal service rely on tax revenue for its operations.
In 1971, under President Nixon, the Post Office Department was “reformed” to operate like a business. This put the operation of the USPS under the direction of corporate executives and on the road to a profit mentality.
A second group of executives was created to assure that postage rates would not exceed the rate of inflation and yet the USPS was not to make a profit. This was a design for failure and movement to dismantle a service that was established in the Constitution.
In 2006, under President George W. Bush, a new “reform” was passed to aid in the further destruction of the USPS. To aid in budget deficit reduction the USPS was required to pre pay health benefits for all current and future employees who will work and retire in the next 75 years.
To add insult to injury the USPS must fully fund the 75 years of health care premiums in 10 years. This added $5.5 billion dollars annually to the cost of operating the USPS.
One cannot buy anything to eat at McDonalds for 45 cents nor go very far on 45 cents worth of gas. How much service or benefit can a citizen receive from any of the other government agencies mentioned above for 45 cents?
Stamp a letter and it becomes one of the nearly six million pieces of mail daily that the network of more than 500,000 employees deliver anywhere in the country in 1-3 days.
Move and the mail will be forwarded to the new address free. The Postal Service has always gone the “last mile” to deliver to every customer six days a week. Federal Express, United Parcel and other delivery services drop items each day at the post office for postal employees to deliver the “last mile” and the postal service must make a profit. Impossible!
Scottie B. Hicks
Past National President
National Rural Letter Carriers Association
