hey y’all! wanna take a minute of your time to help fight for the USPS?
if you haven’t heard, tr*mp is refusing to help the postal service financially during this pandemic (and beyond) in an effort to starve it of funds/resources and kill it off so it can be privatized. also:
obviously this is not great, as tons of us rely on the USPS for all kinds of different reasons, and the privatization of this essential service would have a dramatic effect on the entire nation. namely: voting by mail would become nonexistent (❗️), and the cost of shipping mail and goods will change astronomically.
if this sounds terrible to you (and if you live in the us, then it should!), then text USPS to 50409 to sign the petition and instantly send a signed letter to your senators and representatives. it’s fast, easy, and it’s action that you can take right now.
the letter urges your senators to make the financial support of the USPS a priority, and outlines why the USPS is an essential service in our country that must be defended. here’s my letter:
don’t want to use the text service/send an electronic letter? mail a paper letter to your senator’s office.
you can also call your senators and house representatives at (202)224-3121 and urge them to support the USPS financially.
you can also buy a roll of stamps right now to help financially support the USPS on an individual level!
in conclusion: please take a minute to help support the USPS in any way you can. this is an important issue that affects all of us here in the US.
it would be AWESOME if you could reblog this & spread it, or if you’d rather not reblog this post, then i encourage you to make your own post on the social media of your choice and share with your friends.
thx!
FYI: Petitions and form letters are often ignored by Congressional offices. Call your state’s US Senators and demand they work to pass S. 2965 the USPS Fairness Act, which passed the House and has been sitting in the Senate since FEBRUARY 2020.
Summary of S.2965 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): USPS Fairness Act
The American Postal Workers Union has a good explainer on this, as well as Last Week Tonight. Even before Trump’s DRASTIC directive to screw over USPS, a 2006 law from the Bush administration and Republican-led Congress has basically slowly led to the US postal service’s decline, and this is a final nail in the coffin.
The TLDR is that that 2006 law required the USPS to pre-fund postal workers health care benefits for 75 years, which meant they had to have money for employees who weren’t even BORN yet.
For over a decade, the United States Postal Service has been plagued with the onerous burden of prefunding its retiree health care benefits
Here is more on this issue:
Also, the issue with Trump’s latest target at the USPS isn’t just refusing coronavirus aid. His new appointee to lead it is now purposely handing down directives to restrict employee overtime and late delivery trips so that mail delays start to pile up. The guiding slogan was “every piece, every day.” Now it’s “get in, get out.” Just like Betsy Devos forcing schools to reopen, this will destroy trust in these systems, force reliance on private companies, which is exactly what Trump and the businesspeople he appoints want a) as capitalists and b) to surpress people further as they become more reliant on worse and more expensive services.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general.
Ohh, finally this one has actionable things to yell at our senate about!
Contact your senators! Just send them a quick email telling them to get their butts in gear! pass S. 2965
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Additionally, if you are financially able to, buy stamps, bags, and other merch from the USPS to support it. It has many cute stamps, lovely tote bags, prints, and many other items in their “gifts” category of the USPS store.
