(This article appeared in the September/October 2026 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)
It always feels rejuvenating to come home from an APWU convention, and I believe this one brought a shift: younger members saw their place in this movement, and long-standing members knew it was time to move forward, sharing stories and teaching them about the history of our fights.
The power is shifting because we, as postal workers,
are watching the destruction of our proud delivery system
being manipulated by another privatizer, the Postmaster
General. He is continuing the same old Delivering
for America plan that is destroying our process and
delivery network and wasting our hard-earned revenue
on mistake after mistake. The dedicated machines
that work, like the Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS)
and Small Parcel and Bundle Sorter (SPBS), are being
removed and replaced with equipment that continues
to break down, has hard-to-replace parts, and constantly
fails when processing mail and packages. The
2026 Bulk Mail Center (BMC) Conference received
reports from local presidents that the Matrix Regional
Sorter (MaRS) and the Parallel Induction Linear Sorter
(PILS) are not dependable sorters and cause package
delays and equipment failures.
We have been losing our processing center network
that used to process mail and packages in more strategic
locations. As a result, the number of backup locations
that can handle mail processing during the many
natural disasters occurring in the United States today
is limited. Regional processing sites are too far apart,
and in some instances, there is just one site covering
the whole state, causing more delays and transportation
costs. When management ended truck pick-ups
at the end of the day at many of our post offices, it
degraded service to our communities. Postal workers
have always taken pride in making sure all mail leaves
the building each day heading to its destination. But
now your mail can sit in a post offi ce or the regional
processing center for days. The failed postal plan has
adversely affected the services we provide to our communities
and the public trust. That is why we must
connect with our communities and build community
power to save our services and regain that trust.
As management closes post offices across this country, postal workers must connect with our communities in our fight to protect our public Postal Service. We have been providing universal service for over 250 years. We can win this fight to keep full-service post offices within our communities only if we build the labor-community power and put pressure on Congress to stop the insanity. We desperately need your help.
Go to apwu.org/nopostofficeclosures to learn more about this fight to save our communities and their post offices. Sign up for our network to build your power and do your part to help your APWU local or state organization mobilize and save our services before it is too late.
Management knows it needs to monitor and fix the
problems within to capture lost revenue. The Operations
Department needs to go back to what worked.
Consolidations and closures have never been the
answer and do not save money or time. Understaffed
offices and an abundance of untrained management
teams do not make sense and have only increased hostile,
toxic work environments.
Let’s build our power with our labor, community, business,
and government allies to make the changes we need to
bring our Postal Service back to the people! Visit apwu.
org/nopostofficeclosures and be a part of the solution! ■