Read on Twitter
Lot of discussion about the need to #SaveTheUSPS today, and I'm shocked at how many of my liberal and progressive friends are completely flatfooted on this argument. I'll say it up front: YES WE NEED THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.
Thread.
Thread.
The first thing you need to know is that destroying the USPS is a decades-long project of "Libertarians" and hardline conservatives. If that alone is not enough to convince you that this is a terrible idea that will negatively impact you personally, allow me to elaborate.
Start with this @esquire piece from 2013. Understand that the financial woes saddling the @USPS are arbitrary and immediately reversible, caused by a dumb law Congress passed holding them to a standard which NO OTHER federal agency is required to follow. https://classic.esquire.com/article/2013/2/1/do-we-really-want-to-live-without-the-post-office
Pay close attention to this:
"Nobody wants to hear that more than 70% of losses were for extraordinary budget obligations mandated by Congress, or that the postal service posted its 13th-straight quarter of productivity gains."
Understand that Congress CREATED this problem.
"Nobody wants to hear that more than 70% of losses were for extraordinary budget obligations mandated by Congress, or that the postal service posted its 13th-straight quarter of productivity gains."
Understand that Congress CREATED this problem.
For years conservatives have insisted the free market could magically provide this vital public service more efficiently. That if the @USPS went away, FedEx and UPS and other package delivery services could just pick up the slack.
Will they, though? Let's examine that.
Will they, though? Let's examine that.
I have a friend who drove for FedEx ~15 years ago, during a push to make more drivers independent contractors. What you're about to read is going to sound a lot like the experiences of Uber and Lyft drivers. But FedEx was wayyy ahead of the rideshare industry in contractor abuse.
My friend worked 18-19 hour days. He had to buy his own truck for $150K. He had to buy the ROUTE from the guy who was retiring. It was a large, rural route that otherwise would not have had delivery from FedEx or UPS. But you know who always delivered to that rural route? @USPS.
His truck constantly broke down due to high mileage. He was 100% responsible for the cost of the repairs and the insurance. Repairs routinely were several thousand dollars and insurance was not cheap. FedEx took no responsibility for those costs because he was a "contractor."
When he got sick, as working nonstop 18 hours a day is likely to do, he had to pay another driver to cover his route. So not only did he not get paid sick leave, he literally lost money to take a single day off of work. Again, FedEx said "Not our problem."
My friend worked 6 days a week. He worked when he was so sick or tired that he wasn't safe to drive. He ended up with work-related injuries (the kind governed under OSHA) for which FedEx claimed no responsibility because (you guessed it) "You're an independent contractor."
When he couldn't take it anymore and wanted to give up his route he had to take a loss. No one was interested in the massive, rural route he drove. FedEx decided to split it into 3 territories. His truck was no longer salvageable and he ate money on that, too.
Meanwhile, the same territory was covered by the @USPS with reliable delivery 6-days a week, where the postal workers had good union jobs with sick leave, vacation time, and health insurance. So what was the point of FedEx grinding my buddy into dust that way? Did it save them $?
Are FedEx and UPS more efficiently run than the @USPS? No. Do the drivers get better benefits or more pay for the same hours worked? No. But do customers get better service for cheaper rates through FedEx and UPS? Also no.
Looking at those rates, you can clearly see that premium package delivery services charge double what the USPS charges for roughly the same service. And that money ain't going to the drivers, folks. It's going to executive bonuses and shareholder payouts.
Funny thing about that "contractor" racket of FedEx's: Drivers stated the company treated them like employees and used the contractor loophole to avoid giving them basic workplace protections and benefits. Spoiler alert: The drivers won and FedEx settled. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/06/16/fedex-settles-driver-mislabeling-case-for-228-million/#4281c2a7c22e
And yet, even after being sued for calling drivers independent contractors and then binding them like employees, FedEx still has jobs posted for independent delivery drivers today. Some of the reviews are pretty shocking.
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/FedEx/reviews?fcountry=ALL&fjobtitle=Driver+%28Independent+Contractor%29
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/FedEx/reviews?fcountry=ALL&fjobtitle=Driver+%28Independent+Contractor%29
Compare this to the benefits @USPS postal workers get through their union:
Health insurance
Life Insurance
Disability
Retirement Plan
Performance Bonus
401K
Family Leave
Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
OJT
Tuition Assistance
...just to name a few. https://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/US-Postal-Service-US-Benefits-EI_IE3032.0,17_IL.18,20_IN1.htm
Health insurance
Life Insurance
Disability
Retirement Plan
Performance Bonus
401K
Family Leave
Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
OJT
Tuition Assistance
...just to name a few. https://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/US-Postal-Service-US-Benefits-EI_IE3032.0,17_IL.18,20_IN1.htm
Okay okay, so the @USPS is a better place to work with better benefits and a safer work environment that provides more service at a lower cost. But do we actually NEED it? Don't we all get (and hate) junk mail? Doesn't everyone use email?
This doesn't tell the whole story.
This doesn't tell the whole story.
It's true that overall volume is declining, but @USPS still delivers over 142 BILLION pieces of mail per year, or roughly 433 pieces of mail for every human living in America.
By comparison, FedEx Ground (USPS's main competitor) delivered a paltry 2.2 billion packages in 2019.
By comparison, FedEx Ground (USPS's main competitor) delivered a paltry 2.2 billion packages in 2019.
Now, I'm not a galaxy brain free-market genius or anything, but it seems to me that a company that charges double for 1/100th of the volume may not be up to the task of absorbing all the customers and responsibilities that come w/the incredibly reliable service we get from @USPS.
Which takes me to my final point. What's it like to live in a place that doesn't have reliable, affordable postal delivery available to all?
You don't have to guess, I'll tell you. I've lived abroad for 16 years. This is why we have to #SaveTheUSPS.
You don't have to guess, I'll tell you. I've lived abroad for 16 years. This is why we have to #SaveTheUSPS.
Something as simple as ordering online becomes a privilege enjoyed by the well-to-do. You saw these price comparisons. This is what FedEx and UPS charge when they're competing with the @USPS . What happens when they don't have to? You think they're going to lower their rates? HA!
So unless you're a top-tier income earner, you can kiss your Amazon binges goodbye. If you're a busy single parent or someone with mobility issues who depends on delivery to save you time or effort, you can expect to start paying a LOT more for your packages.
Premium package carriers aren't remotely capable of delivering your letter mail. You can all but kiss it goodbye. If you do want to send your grandmother a birthday card, it will probably cost you several dollars instead of the 55 cents you spend on a stamp today.
And to top it all off, you'll be enabling a predatory corporation that abuses employment law loopholes to deny benefits and basic decency to their employ...oops, I mean, "independent contractors"...as opposed to the good union jobs at the USPS.
Final thoughts: The @USPS is awesome and we are so incredibly fortunate to have it. Don't listen to the lies. They can be profitable if Congress removes the absurd pension rule. Everyone deserves reliable postal delivery, and postal workers deserve our support. #SaveTheUSPS
Okay I lied, one last thing. I doubt it's a coincidence Trump is directly threatening the post office at the same time every state is moving to #VoteByMail. But even if it's unintentional, even if he's just being dumb, that alone is reason to #SaveTheUSPS. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/10/1936160/-Trump-is-trying-to-kill-the-USPS-as-vote-by-mail-becomes-the-best-chance-to-save-our-democracy
