Dec 12 2011
Post Office Under Attack from Postmaster General and Congress
Each year the US Postal Service receives millions of letters addressed to Santa Claus. For the past 99 years the USPS has run Operation Santa Claus to bring a little holiday cheer to impoverished children and families who write requesting everything from toys to school supplies and warm clothing. Volunteer US Postal Service workers combed through nearly 2 million letters last year to select the thousands of recipients of the program’s good will. The chosen letters are paired with a donor who purchases the requested items and then returns the package to the post office, where it is mailed free of charge. The program continues this year despite ongoing turmoil for the agency. Last week Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe called on Congress to give him more “flexibility” to run the postal service like a business. According to Donahoe, who calls himself the Chief Operating Officer of the US Postal Service, this means closing thousands of post offices that do not “turn a profit.” His plans to close a budget shortfall include shuttering 252 mail centers, ending next-day delivery service for many types of mail, and laying-off up to 100,000 workers. Writing for the Nation John Nichols observed the changes, rather than strengthening the USPS, weaken its service, driving customers to, “for-profit mail services that want to carve up the USPS [and] are salivating” at the prospect. Small businesses and rural residents will be among the hardest hit should Postmaster Donahoe’s proposals be adopted. In the wake of his announcement 18 Senate Democrats called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to intervene. Through a letter the Senators stated the House and Senate should play in a role in significant change to ensure, “reform… protects universal service.”
GUEST: John Nichols, political writer for The Nation Magazine, contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin, co-founder of Free Press, co-author with Bob McChesney of The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again
Visit www.savethepostoffice.com for more information.
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