Snail mail: Slugging it out at the U.S. Postal Service

Sunday, August 16, 2020

1056

COMMENTARY

snail mail, U.S. Postal Service — (Mike Allen)

Who had “political fight over the post office” for the month of August? I can’t find it on my 2020 bingo card, and I really don’t understand it, to be completely honest.

My lack of understanding stems from two aspects of the U.S. Postal Service I never knew about until this past week. First, I had no idea the position of postmaster general was so intertwined with whoever is the U.S. president. Indeed, reading up on it, the position was once appointed by the president and was part of the cabinet, including being a part of the line of succession. It isn’t that way anymore, but the president still has a lot of say in who fills that role. But who knew delivering mail could be so… political?

Anyway, the second thing I had no clue about is the shuffling of letter collection boxes in places where the usage is low. I’ve never paid attention to this, like many people, but with an election coming up where security is top of mind, perhaps the U.S. Postal Service could, you know, wait a minute before suddenly changing things.

There’s been some action with both of these things recently, among other mail-related subjects, which is why we’re seeing the current uproar about something most of us would consider a dry topic. One thing I do understand, however, is that everyone uses the Postal Service, regardless of political party, so it’s in our best interest to keep it functioning smoothly. Now, if I can only find where I put those forever stamps.