Save The Post Office - Send Letters To Family, Friends, Teachers, Strangers, Legislators

The US Post Office is losing lots of money because of the COVID-19 closings.    It's reported that Trump threatened to veto the relief package if aid for the Post Office was included.  Trump has been at war with the Post Office at least since 2018 when he wanted them to charge Amazon more for their  postal deliveries.  I'd note that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, one of Trump's many perceived media enemies.  And now people are saying Trump's opposition to the funding is related to suppressing voting-by-mail.

Our first post master was Benjamin Franklin who pushed hard for a postal service.  He was also a printer and newspaper publisher and having a post office made distributing the news a lot easier.  But at this point I'm backing Ben Franklin over Donald Trump.  

So I'm pushing for everyone to start sending letters.  Letters mean more than a phone call or an email or text.  They say you cared to spend a little more time to think about what you wanted to say and to get an envelope and mail it.  And they can be easily read long in the future.  My only connections to my grandparents, for instance, are letters they wrote long before I was born.  

So, who should you write too?

• Grandkids - they love getting mail
• Grandparents
• Parents
• Kids
• Aunts and Uncles

Let them know you're thinking about them.  Who else?

• Let favorite teachers know how much they meant to you
• The same for other people who had important influences on you that they may not realize
• Write your members of Congress to tell them to make sure the Post Office survives
• Find names and addresses at random on line and write a stranger
• Pay your bills by mail

But in these lockdown days, you don't want to expose yourself to a post office crowd to buy stamps.  No problem.  You can register with the post office online  and order stamps for home delivery. Here are some of the stamps available right now.  

Feel daunted by writing a letter?  Here's a link with how to do it.  And since must people are home, there's lots more time to write.  And show your kids how to send a letter.  

The Post Office is an important way for people to be connected.  Even with email and texting, a letter is something personal.  You touched the letter, your handwriting is on it.  You can slip in something - a drawing, a photo, stickers, a four leaf clover, a cartoon you cut out of the newspaper.  

In rural areas, where it's not economical for UPS to go, the Post Office keeps people connected.  And the post office connects people all around the world.  Imagine, three or four short lines on an envelope, and the post office will get it to the right person anywhere in the world in a week or two.  

And voting by mail means that attempts to suppress the vote by limiting polling stations, making people wait in long lines, any time, but especially during a pandemic like what happened in Wisconsin last week, doesn't have to happen.  Greg Palast is someone who tracks voting problems.  Here's a link to one of Greg's recent posts.

There are potential problems with mail-in voting like with any other type of voting.  But there are recountable paper ballots when you vote by mail.  

So, support the Post Office;  surprise a friend or family member, let your Members of Congress know what you think, pay your bills, using an envelope and stamps to support the post office.