The Post Office and Billy Long

The Post Office And Billy Long by R. Duane Graham The Postal Service sells only one thing: postal service. So, naturally, those who are in charge of the Postal Service, in order to deal with a largely Congress-created financial crisis, want to jettison the service they sell.  That is what is happening with USPS management's move toward 5-day delivery and its plans to close mail processing centers and post offices all around the country. In Springfield on Wednesday, as Wally Kennedy of the Globe reported, the Postal Service held a public hearing on the closing of the mail processing plant in that city. If the plant were shut down, mail would be processed in far-away Kansas City. That would mean delivery standards for first-class mail would deteriorate. Mail that is now being delivered overnight would take a day or two more to deliver. And that would affect Joplin, too, because our mail is currently processed in Springfield. We all know that first class mail is declining in the Internet age; we all know there has been a serious recession and a slow recovery; but we all don't know that the real problem with USPS finances is Congress' ridiculous insistence in 2006 that the agency pre-fund 75 years of retiree health benefits in 10 years, which means about $5.5 billion off the top every year since 2006. Without that onerous requirement, there would be no financial crisis in the Postal Service, although it would still face some long-term challenges. But rather than focus all of its efforts on getting that burdensome requirement modified, USPS managers instead are slowly undermining the reason the Postal Service exists: to provide universal service in a timely manner. Wally Kennedy reported: So many people showed up for the public hearing that there was not enough room in the Executive Conference Center Ballroom, 910 W. Battlefield St., to hold them. Up to 100 people waited in line outside the center for seats to open inside. There are two very basic reasons why so many folks showed up. One, there are lots of well-paying jobs at stake, which around these parts are hard to come by in good times, not to mention challenging times.  Two, a lot of folks rely on the service that management is so eager to cut. The Globe story briefly demonstrates how: Specific segments of the business community, especially those with time-sensitive materials, such as newspaper and business journal publishers, said they would lose subscribers if the delivery of their products is delayed. Frank L. Martin III, editor and publisher of the West Plains Daily Quill, said, “This could very well put us out of business, and we are the only source of local news in our area.” Elaine Johnson, of Springfield, told the Postal Service representatives that she suffers from a medical condition that requires the timely delivery of medicine. She said she does not own a computer and relies on the Postal Service to help her keep in touch with other people.  As I said, USPS has only one product and that is the timely delivery of the mail. Messing with the quality of that product spells doom in the end. Finally, I want to put in a rare good word for Congressman Billy Long, who was in attendance and appeared to be trying to keep the processing center alive, according to the Globe: Echoing what some others said, Long expressed the hope that the Postal Service would take into consideration the fact that Southwest Missouri is the fastest growing area of the state. He said the loss of the mail processing center to Kansas City, the loss of dozens of good-paying jobs, and the fact that mail would take several days to be delivered instead of arriving overnight would not help the region further its growth. The paper also quoted him as saying, "This is pretty well a done deal. Is there anything we can do?" Why, yes, there is, Mr. Long. I'm glad you asked. You can co-sponsor H.R. 1351 (which will help straighten out USPS finances) and urge your colleagues to vote for it.  And you can co-sponsor and urge your colleagues to support H.R. 137 (ensures 6-day mail delivery), which was introduced by Rep. Sam Graves (MO-6). And you can vigorously oppose H.R. 2309, a bill sponsored by Darrell Issa that will eventually kill the Postal Service. If you do all that, then I might go easy on you for a while. View original post here.