Billionaire Feud Puts Rural Postal Delivery In Jeopardy
To drive down a country road in Nelson County is to see an endless parade of mailboxes. Those mailboxes are a critical link for many, and the US Post Office is increasingly critical now that the COVID-19 virus means making a shopping trip to town a potentially fatal risk for elderly or compromised countryside residents.
Unfortunately, the Post Office finds itself in the middle of a nasty feud between two billionaires. On one side is Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post. On the other is President Trump, a frequent target of critical Post editorials and new reports.
The Post Office is enshrined as a function of the Federal Government under Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the US Constitution. It has served to bind together the country bringing letters and products to people living in far-flung rural areas throughout the country’s history. But it has faced financial difficulties for a long time. The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in a 30% decrease in volume, pushing the Post Office to the breaking point. It has requested a $75 Billion bailout loan from the Federal Government.
President Trump accuses the Post Office of offering overly generous terms to deliver packages for his arch rival, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. He claims that each Amazon package delivered receives a $1.50 subsidy from the Post Office and has demanded the package delivery rate be increased four times what is charged currently. He tweets “if they don’t raise the price, I’m not signing anything.”
The $1.50 figure is misleading, and comes from a study done by a Citigroup analyst with ties to Federal Express. According to CNBC:
“When you look at the revenue breakdown, you can see that shipping and packages is actually one of the few categories that brought in more money than the previous year. While overall revenue fell $1.8 billion, shipping and packages saw a $2.1 billion increase in revenue. Meanwhile, first-class mail revenue was down around $1.8 billion.”
The Post Office’s financial troubles are a direct result of Congress’s focus on special-interest legislation affecting its operation. A major contributing factor is a mandate passed in 2006 ordering the organization to pre-fund employee benefits for the next 75 years. Few companies have to do this. Another example involves Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va. 5th) who sponsored a bill (HR 2517) to allow the Post Office to deliver booze through the mail. Congressman Riggleman himself owns and operates an alcoholic beverage distillery in Nelson County!
Democrats in Congress are now speaking up to defend the Post Office. On May 10, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was quoted in the New York Times as saying:
“We have to fight for the Post Office. Their goal has always been to privatize, to make a profit off the Postal Service for private purposes. We are for the public having the Postal Service meet the public interest, not some special interest.”
Meanwhile, the Post Office has said it is going to run out of money by September 2020, and at that point, mail delivery could be disrupted. The issue has disturbing implications for the election, with vote-by-mail becoming central to making voting safe during the pandemic. Closing down the Post Office could be another way of suppressing the vote.
Whatever the reason – be it antagonism toward Amazon or impeding vote by mail, the collateral damage will be felt widely in rural areas like Nelson County where elderly and other residents depend upon it to receive letters, medicines and everything else.