By Jean Ortiz-Santiago
Courtesy of the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing via Wikimedia Creative Commons, Public domain
A eight-cent USPS stamp from 1973 urges people to remember the mail carrier.
Election Day is nearing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t vote now. Mail-in ballots have played a crucial role in elections since practically the origins of this country. However, an important player in this process often gets overlooked: the United States Postal Service (USPS). During the summer, I worked at a cafe, and we’d receive packages from USPS. The USPS worker and I chatted about our day, but occasionally they’d tell me stories about their interactions in downtown Pittsburgh including what people they had to deal with daily. This made me appreciate their work and their vital role in our community, especially during election season. The USPS was targeted and undermined by Trump in 2020, and a future Trump presidency could disfigure an already underfunded agency.
USPS was first conceived in 1775 and the official cabinet department was created in 1792 with the Postal Service Act. However, the agency as we know it today was formed in 1970 with the Postal Service Reorganization Act. USPS currently employs 525,469 career employees and operates 246,503 vehicles with an operating revenue of 78.2 billion dollars in 2023. However, USPS has run on a consistent loss. They had a net loss of 6.5 billion dollars in 2023. In 2020, USPS was in a dire situation. They requested 75 billion dollars, as they expected 13 billion dollars in losses in 2020 and 54 billion dollars in losses in the next 10 years due to the pandemic. Democrats in the House pushed for 25 billion dollars in the last stimulus package — they only ended up with 10 billion dollars. What’s absurd is former president Trump’s comments on the issue: “They want 25 billion dollars — billion — for the post office. Now, they need that money to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots…” I cannot fathom how maddening this sounds. Trump can never put partisanship aside when an issue is handed to him. To discredit and slander the Postal Service is downright foolish and immoral.
Additionally, Trump appointed an anti-union postmaster general, Louis DeJoy. DeJoy has cut services that would damage USPS’s on-time deliveries. Another Trump presidency would push for more anti-union sentiments and possibly even privatization.
The Postal Service has had its own set of non-Trump-related woes. Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act which caused many of the issues the Postal Service is facing today. For example, according to the Economic Policy Institute, “Many problems can be traced back to the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which capped postage rate increases for first-class and bulk mail at the rate of inflation, required rapid pre-funding of retiree health benefits, limited the Postal Service’s ability to expand into new business areas, and subjected the Postal Service to strict borrowing limits” (Kosar 2009). These issues were only exacerbated by the pandemic forcing USPS to ask for congressional funding as previously mentioned. Eventually, the Postal Service received the proper funding in 2022 when the Postal Service Reform Act was passed and delivered around 56 billion dollars, recorded in the USPS’s net profits. This piece was originally meant to be a love letter to USPS and in some ways it is. I deeply care about USPS, so I’m concerned about its future and I believe I’m not alone. The Pew Research Center states USPS is the second most favorable government agency in the eyes of Americans just right behind the National Park Service. The American public does not want a bleak future for USPS so it’s disheartening when it’s a target of political discourse. We must only seek further improvement to the services they provide. The Postal Service has provided good jobs and careers to many American citizens and has provided important services to many people’s lives — whether that’s receiving packages, delivering medicine, or important documents — and once again, this year, we must not forget the indispensable task USPS is already undertaking.