CHRISTOPHER W. SHAW, christophershaw.ca@
Shaw is author of the forthcoming book First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat (City Lights Books), which will be published in early November. His past pieces include “The U.S. Postal Service Was Designed to Serve Democracy” for Foreign Affairs and “Postal Banking is Making a Comeback. Here’s how to Ensure it Becomes a Reality” for the Washington Post.
He said today: “Even as the FBI continues to investigate Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for a pattern of suspicious donations made by employees of his former business, a new policy will slow down billions of pieces of first-class mail starting October 1. Service standards for first-class mail will be lowered from the existing one- to three-days to one- to five-days, a permanent change that will impact approximately 40 percent of all mail. Residents of the Pacific coast will be most affected by the imposition of these new delivery delays. Ironically, after widespread delays under DeJoy’s tenure, degrading service guidelines will allow the U.S. Postal Service to claim improved performance due to the extended window for on-time delivery. With the Postal Service facing a number of financial challenges — notably the unique burden of massively pre-funding its retirees’ health benefits — reducing service will only discourage use of the U.S. Mail, which is not a formula for long-term financial health and stability.”
