Save The Post Office
Hi Friends,
I wanted to bring something to your attention that you may not be aware that not only affects me as an online retailer, but anyone who has ever sent a package or mail (or who plans to vote by mail this November during this pandemic).
On June 15th, Trump replaced the outgoing US postmaster general with Louis Dejoy — a businessman with no prior experience within USPS, but someone who made hefty donations to the Trump Campaign. Dejoy has stated in internal memos that he plans to slow down the mail and shorten open hours, even as package volume has increased 60 to 80 percent since the pandemic hit the United States. The new head of the USPS appears to be determined to slow mail delivery in a likely attempt to weaken and eventually privatize the postal service (which is a public good, not a private for profit company).
Since this change, Etsy sellers, Ebay sellers and many other ecommerce businesses have seen a large uptick in missing and delayed shipments. This alone is a hit to us financially as we almost exclusively send out our packages through USPS. If USPS were to be completely dissolved, that would undoubtedly put millions of us little guys out of business and also leave the 630,000 people working for USPS out of a job.
The president has been very vocal about his push to dismantle the USPS, saying that “it’s being robbed by Amazon”. Getting rid of the Post Office would only clear the way for Amazon to extend its reach even farther. Trump appears to be using the USPS to attack Jeff Bezos (who also owns the Washington Post) for merely reporting on his Presidency.
Even though we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, Trump is also actively trying to prevent people voting by mail by claiming that it’s not a secure form of voting, and by slowing down the US Postal Service. I’ve been voting by mail for the last 5 years, and I can’t imagine ever having to stand in line for hours. I get my ballot in the mail a few weeks in advance, cast my vote, sign it and put it in the mail without a stamp. There are also TON of ballot drop box locations around the city for those who are worried about putting it in the mail. When it's received your signature is cross-check with the one they have on file. You're also able to login to the King County website to see when your ballot has been counted.
I’m sure there are probably some of you who want to point out that USPS is losing money, but this post is already too long for me to get into the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act that was passed by a republican controlled senate in 2006 and how it’s crippling the postal service, so I’ll cut it off here. But there are ways to fix it, we just need to elect someone who can.
So, if you care about small businesses, Indigenous artists, Etsy sellers, Ebay sellers or your mailman, please vote in this next election.