Mail delivery shouldn’t be contracted out

(Soapboxes are guest opinions from our readers, and anyone is welcome to write one. Peter Shapiro is editor of the B-Mike, the monthly publication of National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82. He delivers mail in downtown Hillsboro.)

By Peter Shapiro

, Mar 8, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (19 Reader comments)

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The principle of universal service – equal access to the mail for all Americans – has been around as long as this country. It has been repeatedly upheld by Congress, most recently with passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act late last year.

Incredibly, it is now in jeopardy.

Across the U.S., the Postal Service is experimenting with hiring cut-rate private contractors to deliver your mail. Local postmasters who once had the authority to approve new addresses for delivery service must now get approval from higher-ups. Here in Washington County, mail service for 374 new addresses in the Arbor Park development near Bethany are slated to be contracted out. Additional addresses are being contracted out near Orenco Station.

I earn my living delivering mail, so it’s obvious why this is a concern for me. Here’s why it should be a concern for you as well:

Over more than two centuries, the post office has built up an infrastructure that extends mail service to every household and every business address in the nation. Unlike private shippers, it doesn’t pick and choose whom it will serve or charge more for out-of-the-way deliveries. Unlike private shippers, it has no stockholders to pay off. It charges enough to pay its expenses and no more. And it doesn’t take a nickel of your tax dollars.

Those of us who deliver your mail are charged with maintaining its security and privacy as well as making sure it gets where it’s supposed to go. At a time when identity theft has become rampant, it provides a means of communicating – and conducting business – which has proved far safer than the Internet.

If you’re sending something valuable, we’ll provide extra protection. If you move, we’ll forward your mail. If you’re out of town, we’ll hold it until you return.

We’re there for you every day, no matter how bad the weather or how heavy the mail volume. But we do more than put letters in your mailbox. We bring medications to the ill and housebound. We build up personal relationships with our customers, watch their kids grow, send their care packages to loved ones overseas in the military.

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