Full Cover for Papercuts Library #4 - Vindication of the United States Postal Service

Vindication of the United States Postal Service

$5.99

The Papercuts Library #4

Whether you’ve always had a soft spot for the USPS or not, we’ve boiled down its epic and convoluted story to turn you into an educated advocate of our postal service who will know exactly how to make a difference for one of our oldest and most trusted institutions at a critical moment in its history.

36 pages
8.5″ x 5.5″

 

SKU: PL00004 Category:

What does it mean to vindicate the USPS? And why is the most favorably viewed part of our federal government in such trouble?

In the Papercuts Library #4, we’ve set out to make the case for our postal service once and for all, and remind us all that well-wishing must occasionally be followed up with calls to our representatives… that is, if we want to see good things happen rather than fall apart.

Here are a few selections from #4:

USPS has a rich history to explore, but in this book we only draw from it in bits, quickly taking what we need and moving on…

 

The first goal is providing context. Why is the USPS so important? It plays out on many levels…

 

Then in the second half we get into the special predicament the USPS has been put into, which has everything to do with this institution being mistaken for a business…

 

But what might seem like a reasonable setup has put the USPS in unnecessary financial trouble, and ultimately puts its very existence at risk…

Sample pages on the danger of USPS privitization

 

If you care about the United States Postal Service, this book will take your understanding of its importance to the next level and set you up to help make a difference for this amazing service at a terrible time of need.

There are already a lot of great sources of information on the United States Postal Service out there, and it is fun but deep rabbit hole to fall down.

For the latest in USPS news:

If you want to geek out on postal history:

And if you really want to go deep, we can't recommend Devin Leonard’s book, Neither Snow Nor Rain enough. Devin has written extensively on the USPS:

 

Meanwhile, here are links to reference materials from #4...

 

Warning: Spoilers ahead...

p3 –

If you want to see the power of the USPS to bring people together, check out the following poll, where it was found that USPS not only topped American’s list, but is viewed favorably by 91% of Democrats and 91% of Republicans.

 

USPS is always at the top:

 

p4-5 –

The USPS has a nice writeup about their first Postmaster General:

 

 

p6-7 –

 

p8-9 –

39 U.S. Code § 101. Postal policy – Legal Information Institute – Cornell Law School

Just looking through the table of contents of the U.S. Code is educational and enlightening. It’s a worthwhile document to explore.

 

p10-11 –

 

p12-13 –

 

p14-15 –

 

p16-17 –

 

For more on its “unfortunately history of being bullied”:

 

 

p22-23 –

See part (d) for the law related to postal office closings:

 

p24-25 –

Regarding government subsidies for the telcos to meet their service obligations

 

 

 

Re: Touting…

 

For more on what individual states are doing to expand access:

 

And just as you would expect:

 

G20 postal ranking:

 

Full international ranking:

 

For more international perspective:

 

Retail location and other postal facts available at:

 

 

p26-27 –

See item 7 for new business survival rates.

If you like the post office, we highly recommend Devin Leonard’s book, Neither Snow Nor Rain, but prepare for the whole story of our postal services history to make you a little sick at times, particularly the 1970 reorg ridiculousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

p28-29 –

Here is more on the concept of Amazon taking over the postal service…

 

 

 

Here is the Cato Institute’s last two swipes at making the case for privatizing the postal service, via their website devoted to ways to downsizing the federal government.

 

p30-31 –

All of the postal service’s numbers are available here:

Check out 10-Qs and Annual Reports for net loss data.

USPS’ fiscal year ends in September vs full year results for Uber, but comparing fiscal to full or full to full, the statements in the book stand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for postal law:

 

p32-33 –

 

George Washington’s thoughts on the post office come from Devin Leonard’s Neither Snow Nor Rain

 

 

 

 

Both AOL and Yahoo! have been sold and are currently owned by Verizon Communications

 

 

 

p34-35 –

Delivery of a New Delivery Vehicle Sep. 7, 2020 – USPS Office of Inspector General

Post Office Mum on Replacement for Aging Mail Truck Nov 9, 2020 – Trucks.com

Don't Expect the USPS Fleet to Go Electric Jan. 28, 2021 - Vice

 

 

The USPS and Rural America - The U.S. Postal Service is a critical source of decent jobs and revenue in rural states Apr. 24, 2020 - Institute for Policy Studies

 

There is far more to doing the right thing by the USPS than we were able to fit into this book, and we encourage you to dig in wherever you find yourself interested. Our postal service needs attention in many different regards.

 

Here is a small selection from the available literature online:

 

 

Regarding the Postmaster General…

 

And regarding the Board of Governors who will pick our next Postmaster General…

 

The USPS Fairness Act

 

  • S.145 (117th) – Congress.gov
  • S.145: A bill to amend title 5, United States Code, to repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits, and for other purposes. - GovTrack
  • H.R.695 (117th) – Congress.gov
  • H.R. 695: To amend title 5, United States Code, to repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits, and for other purposes. - GovTrack

 

Previously passed as:

…but then left for dead in the last Senate.