By Jorge Balan
The U.S. Post Office Act of 1792 has been called a landmark in American communications policy. Radically departing from its colonial predecessor established in British North America as a source of revenue, the act made the post office a central piece of the administrative apparatus of an independent republic, guaranteeing its rapid expansion into the frontier.
Two centuries later, it became obvious that the internet was eroding the value of the first-class letter, a main source of revenue for the postal system until the use of electronic mail pushed it out of our daily needs.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that we all still need it, although clearly some segments of the population need it the most. This is clearly the case with the seniors.
Let us see in how many ways this is true!
Do you still prefer, as I certainly do, to read in print The Southampton Press every Thursday when it arrives at home, as do other subscriptions? Thanks are due to special postal rates already in the books with the 1792 act.
In his “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville already underlined how, thanks to the postal system, readers in the frontier states would be informed about national and international politics to an extent unthinkable either in France or in Great Britain.
Public health is a national priority crucially supported by the Postal Service for seniors. One-fifth of all retail prescriptions today are delivered by mail, a large proportion of them to senior citizens; 17 percent of Medicare beneficiaries receive one or more medications through the mail.
The pioneer in these regards is the Veterans Administration, which provides by mail an overwhelming majority of medicines received by veterans and their families. Reported delays in mail-order refills to veterans increased the risks confronted by vulnerable groups. The 2020 novel coronavirus pandemic has intensified seniors’ dependence on the Postal Service, the only delivery system that visits every address in the nation six days a week.
The contribution of the Postal Service in national emergencies was highlighted in a special report on Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history: “The Postal Service moved quickly to reestablish communications, to reopen lines of commerce, and to deliver government information, relief checks, and medicine to hurricane victims living in makeshift shelters. Its extensive address database enabled it to locate hundreds of thousands of displaced persons so that they could be reunited with their families. The nation benefited from having a functioning, comprehensive delivery, retail, and address management infrastructure in place at the time of Katrina’s landfall.”
National emergencies such as Katrina or the coronavirus pandemic require a high level of preparedness, mainly but not only in the public health system, that cannot be maintained without federal and state support shouldered by taxpayers.
The U.S. Postal Service, in this perspective, should be considered an element of that system. It cannot be expected to operate on the basis of a cost-recovery system, where customers are always expected to pay for the service provided on the basis of its cost.
The pandemic emergency has called for the Postal Service to play a crucial role in making citizens’ participation in the 2020 elections safe. It is even more important for seniors and other vulnerable groups who may want to avoid the long lines on November 3. Senior citizens have usually been more likely than others to vote by mail and are no doubt making use of this opportunity in larger numbers than in the past. We all hope that cost cuts have not eroded the ability of the system of provide this service with integrity and efficiency.
It is unfortunate that recently appointed postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has insisted on cost cuts and postal reforms at this time. His previous experience as a CEO of a major U.S. Postal Service contractor — for over $300 million, and who, according to an audit, might have overbilled the Postal Service — is perhaps the wrong kind of qualification for the job from a consumer’s perspective, in spite of his credentials as a major Republican Party fundraiser.
Dr. Jorge Balan, a resident of Westhampton, is a senior research scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
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