Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The message members of Asheville’s postal union delivered this afternoon was loud and clear: a proposal to stop Saturday mail delivery would is the wrong way to address the U.S. Postal Service’s financial crisis.
About 20 members of the American Postal Workers Union, Local 277, as well as some supporters, stood outside Asheville’s downtown post office on Coxe Avenue at lunch time to protest the proposed cut. They held cardboard signs reading “Save our Sats” and “Keep Our Delivery” and handed out pamphlets explaining their position.
“We just want the public to be aware that the Postal Service is pushing for this without realizing the detrimental effects” and without considering other alternatives, said Mark Case, the local union president.
With the Postal Service on track to lose $7 billion this year, it has proposed the Saturday service cut, a move it says would save around $3.5 billion. But the government-run Postal Service should consider other options before it drops Saturday delivery, Case said.
First, the Postal Service should adjust the discounts that advertisers receive for mass mailing what many people consider junk mail, Case said. Those businesses, such as credit card companies, receive discounts that haven’t been adjusted in years, he said.
The Postal Service should also move to recover what Case said was a $75 billion overpayment by the post office to a civil service retirement fund for employees.
A move to curtail mail service would give private services more of a foothold to compete, Case said, which could further erode the Postal Service.
There would be other, more personal, consequences to ending Saturday delivery, said letter carrier Maryanne Haire, who stood in the protest line. With so many drug companies turning to mail order delivery of medications, one less delivery day could make a critical difference, she said.
“A lot of times our elderly customers get to the bottom of their prescriptions and their waiting for their medications,” Haire said. “You could have people go without their medications, and that could potentially make them sick or put them in the hospital.”
On a lighter note, Haire cited the popularity of the mail order movie business, and said younger folks wouldn’t be happy receiving their weekend movie on a Monday.
“Customer service would just go down the tubes,” Haire said, “and we wouldn’t have a post office without customer service.”
The protesters heard plenty of honks of support by passersby and users of the busy Coxe Avenue post office. They also heard words of encouragement. Sonja Costigan wanted to know if there was a petition she could sign.
“I think we have a right to keep our Saturday mail service,” she said.
Well, you guess my opinion on this.
I think the bag fits just fine for that person….if it were me protesting, I’d want a bag on my head too because I wouldn’t want ANYONE to know who I was and that I was actualy wanting the public to continue to fork out money to support such a losing proposition as is the USPS. I believe we need the USPS, but I think we could do without Saturday delivery….. and maybe even one other day a week too.
I think the protestor should have worn a bucket over his head (you know to symbolize how we are blind to their tyranny or something.)
I’ve heard some lame excuses before but these rank along the top. 75 billion in an overpayment – are you serious? And no one has done anything about it? If that is the case then quite a few heads need to roll – 1. for overpaying and 2. for not retrieving it. THAT is simply negligent. Can anyone imagine that happening in a private company without SOMETHING being done. [shows careless attitude of the post office for taxpayer money]
A move to curtail mail service would give private services more of a foothold to compete, Case said, which could further erode the Postal Service.
Give me a break – the postal service can only compete with the private sector because it is federally funded by the taxpayer. The waste I see is insane yet I still use it all the time because many times it is cheaper and easier to ship via USPS.
drug companies turning to mail order delivery of medications, one less delivery day could make a critical difference—
I have to call BULL on that one. If it is SO life threatening, order early. Many companies send out medications automatically when they run out. Records ARE kept and unless one takes too many at a time, throws them out or sells them; both parties know when a subscription will run out 30 days in advance.
As for weekend movies – NUTS!
Customer service will ‘go down the tubes’? – Because of ONE day? Just what the heck do you do the rest of the week? Play video games?
I see this as another example of the few wanting the many to bow down to demands simply because they will lose ONE day of work. They want the taxpayer to subsidize a bloated system. I say make mass mailers pay darn near the same as all of us common folk and GET THAT 75 BILLION
DOLLARS BACK!!!!!
I’ve heard some lame excuses before but these rank along the top. 75 billion in an overpayment – are you serious? And no one has done anything about it? If that is the case then quite a few heads need to roll – 1. for overpaying and 2. for not retrieving it. THAT is simply negligent. Can anyone imagine that happening in a private company without SOMETHING being done. [shows careless attitude of the post office for taxpayer money]
A move to curtail mail service would give private services more of a foothold to compete, Case said, which could further erode the Postal Service.
Give me a break – the postal service can only compete with the private sector because it is federally funded by the taxpayer. The waste I see is insane yet I still use it all the time because many times it is cheaper and easier to ship via USPS.
drug companies turning to mail order delivery of medications, one less delivery day could make a critical difference—
I have to call BULL on that one. If it is SO life threatening, order early. Many companies send out medications automatically when they run out. Records ARE kept and unless one takes too many at a time, throws them out or sells them; both parties know when a subscription will run out 30 days in advance.
As for weekend movies – NUTS!
Customer service will ‘go down the tubes’? – Because of ONE day? Just what the heck do you do the rest of the week? Play video games?
I see this as another example of the few wanting the many to bow down to demands simply because they will lose ONE day of work. They want the taxpayer to subsidize a bloated system. I say make mass mailers pay darn near the same as all of us common folk and GET THAT 75 BILLION
I would really like to keep Saturday mail service. It makes a big difference when receiving prescription meds (as noted in the post), it makes a difference when mailing bill payments and yes, many of us still mail in payments. It makes a difference when mailing or expecting to receive a package.
I agree that "junk mail" needs to pay more to load our boxes down with junk that no-one wants. If the Postal Service would like to cut costs, they might look at the top heavy administration, salaries of the top tier administration, the policy of buying houses for top administration, etc. A review of the structure that sought to make the Postal Service more like private industry (LOL) should be scrutinized.
It’s the same old song and dance. Put policy in place that guarantees poor performance and then point to it and say "see, I told you that government couldn’t do anything." Many people will conveniently ignore the history of excellent performance and never perceive that the failure to perform was planned.
Sigh.