The Public Deserves Faster Mail, Not Degraded Services

Happy New Year, union family! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. I, along with millions of others across the country, thank you for all the hard work you did to deliver smiles to people around the world. I used the Postal Service to send gifts to my children in Utah and the work you did made sure those gifts were delivered to them. It is the work of the members of the APWU that ensures gifts, cards, joy, and love are delivered to mailboxes everywhere. You are the invisible force that accepts the mail, sorts it, maintains the equipment, maintains our fl eet, programs the Postal Service’s computers, takes the customers’ calls, and makes sure everyone is paid for that work. You may not be seen, but not a single piece of mail is delivered anywhere in this country without you!

But it wasn’t only during the holiday season that you showed up, worked, and dedicated yourselves to making sure the mail was delivered. You did it during the election as well! During the 2024 General Election period (starting Sept. 1, 2024) you processed 99.22 million ballots. Because of your work, it only took 1.95 days for ballots to be delivered to voters from election boards. The average day to return ballots to local election boards was even better – one day. None of this could have been accomplished without you.¹

You all proved once again that, when given the proper resources, you can sort and deliver mail promptly and efficiently – just as the law requires. But why is it only during election time that the leaders of the Postal Service are committed and dedicated to ensuring mail is delivered to the public at this pace? I remember the times when one-day delivery of First-Class Mail at the local level was the standard, not the exception. I remember two or three-day delivery across the country was also the norm. But now what we see is the continuing slowing of mail. It seems it doesn’t matter who oversees the Postal Service, the slowing of the mail is no longer an abomination that the public once viewed it as – it is now becoming the norm.

The Postal Service claims that mail will still be delivered within its standards of two to five days, but that it could now take longer. It could be four now instead of three days. What was four could be five. No matter how you spin it and claim the standards haven’t changed, the mail is slower. Especially where it is needed most – rural America. This is all in the name of saving $3 billion a year. The public deserves better. They deserve faster mail. They demand the focus and attention to getting the mail delivered, like we focus on getting ballots delivered within one day. If we can do that, for a couple months each election cycle, we can do it every day. Maybe a more prompt and efficient delivery of mail would encourage increased usage of the Postal Service. Isn’t that what the goal of the Delivering for American plan was supposed to be?

Keep an eye out for APWU efforts to continue to oppose any degradation of service. We will need your help. We will need you to educate the public, contact your legislators, and continue to raise your voices to protect the Postal Service.

We don’t know what is to come under President-elect Trump for the Postal Service. I know this union will oppose any continued degradation of service or the dismantling of the only agency mentioned in the U.S. Constitution – the Post Office.

Solidarity! ■

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¹ 2024 Post-Election Analysis Report: Delivering the Nation’s Election Mail Securely and Effectively, page 5. usps-post-election-report-2024-12-02.pdf