![]() Postal workers are better compensated than many other workers with similar education, years of experience, and hours worked. The postal service connects family and friends, fosters democracy, and is a key part of our emergency and national security infrastructure.Ĭareer jobs in the Postal Service are good jobs for workers without bachelor’s degrees. It has operated without interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and other national catastrophes. It connects family and friends, fosters democracy, and is a key part of our emergency and national security infrastructure. The social value of the Postal Service extends beyond the economic benefits provided by its delivery operations. Like transportation and communications networks that are often publicly owned or function as regulated utilities, a national service with standardized pricing promotes commerce and guards against the concentration of economic power. To take advantage of network economies, the United States and other countries shield their postal services from competition in exchange for delivering mail to far-flung and poorer regions. ![]() ![]() The Postal Service is many things-among them, a public service part of the nation’s critical infrastructure a regulated monopoly a good employer, especially for Black workers and military veterans and a government enterprise competing with and supplying services to private companies. What needs to be done: The Biden administration and Congress must act to undo the damage and allow the Postal Service to adapt to meet unmet needs, including the revival of postal banking.Ĭorrected version, February 2, 2021. The Trump administration revived these efforts, spurred by the president’s opposition to mail voting and his animus toward Amazon, a major customer. Anti-government ideologues and special interests have long sought to privatize, shrink, or hobble the Postal Service. But the conflicting demands made upon it by Congress and regulators put it in a precarious financial position even before the pandemic. It is a model of efficiency and responsive to changing customer needs. “Only time will tell” what other concessions will be made to appease Amazon or any another business who signs an NSA, he adds, but “one thing is sure, the postal service is changing and not for the better.What this report finds: The United States Postal Service is a beloved American institution that provides an essential public service to communities and good middle class jobs for workers. In contrast to the manager’s concern for the Amazon packages, Barbot says he found it odd “that she left many Priority packages which the shippers paid top dollar to have delivered,” especially since they have a much higher profit margin for the USPS than do Amazon packages. In recent years, the Postal Service has faced mounting financial challenges brought about by declining mail volume and a congressional mandate to pre-fund employee pension benefits, leading to cost-cutting proposals such as ending Saturday delivery and closing rural post offices.Īccording to Barbot, “their latest solution is a relatively new business concept called the negotiated service agreement, or NSA,” which he predicts “will initiate the piecemeal morphing of the postal service from a public entity into one that is beholden to its corporate partners.” (RELATED: Penniless Postal Service Promotes Discounted Rates for Chinese Merchants)ĭavid Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that, “This is something that we’ve been talking about for a while now: the distraction of the Postal Service from delivering mail,” which according to its charter is supposed to be its top priority.īarbot, who until recently worked as a City Carrier Assistant (CCA) in Greensboro, North Carolina, notes that, “What’s actually contained within the document is anyone’s guess,” because the USPS has refused to disclose significant details of the agreement, but says his experience indicates “just how beholden is to Amazon.”īarbot relates one instance in which he was instructed to return mail to the station, leading to a confrontation with the evening shift manager, who told him, “there better not be any Amazon packages in there!” Upon discovering two very small Amazon packages among the mail, the manager complained that, “great! Now I’m going to have to take these back out!” 28, 2015, through documents available online and public records. The Daily Caller News Foundation has independently verified Barbot’s identity, and his employment with the USPS as recently as Jan. ![]() In an article for AlterNet, Paul Barbot, a career postal worker, asserts that because of a secretive arrangement between the USPS and Amazon, “an Amazon package trumps all others received to deliver that day even the ones that are more profitable to the postal service.” ![]()
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