The letter is written in response to the Our View "Infusion won't fix problems" referencing that a "Bailout would offer Postal Service a reprieve."
I want to make it clear that the U.S. Postal Service would not be receiving a bailout from the U.S. government.
Since Congress in 2006 required the USPS to "pre-fund" 75 years of health care benefits for employees (many who have not been hired yet) in the amount of $5.5 billion annually for a 10-year period, the money requested by the USPS would be a refund of monies previously paid, not a bailout of taxpayer dollars.
No other government agency or private business bears this burden. If it were not for this congressional mandate, the USPS would have netted a surplus of $611 million instead of racking up a $21 billion deficit.
The USPS has not received money from the government since 1971. All of our income comes from the sale of stamps and retail products.
Remember that the USPS is the heart of a $1 trillion private-sector industry that employs 9 million people and generates more than $65 billion worth of mail annually.
The mailing industry represents more than 7 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and more than 6 percent of the nation's jobs.
In recent years, the USPS has implemented many mechanization and technological changes that speed up the processing of the mail and make it easier for the carrier to deliver.
We do not "operate under a 20th-century model," and we are very aware of the "competition from electronic message delivery and efficient private-sector package shippers."
You must realize that the private-sector package shippers deliver their packages to our dock for the carrier to deliver to your door, because, unlike the USPS, they will not deliver every package to every door every day .
Remember the employees of USPS deliver bills, catalogs, checks, medications, sale flyers and packages to you daily.
A 2011 report shows that more than 30 percent of U.S. households did not have broadband Internet access at home and more than 25 percent did not use the Internet.
Undoubtedly, change in the USPS is needed. The USPS must remain relevant in the digital age. Destroying it will lead to the demise of the world's largest, most efficient and most trusted mail system, one that our founding fathers expressly guaranteed in the Constitution.
Beth Mellott, President
D. Wayne Spielvogle, Vice President
David McKnight, Secretary-Treasurer
American Postal Workers Union 776, Duncansville
