Even before it became the focal point of a deadly anthrax scare, the U.S. Postal Service was suffering through a dreadful year.
It was hemorrhaging red ink, with an expected loss of $1.35 billion for the fiscal year — following a $199 million loss in fiscal 2000. More job cuts were likely, and it had asked for another rate increase — its second this year — that would raise the price of a first-class stamp to 37 cents. It was all but certain to reach its $15 billion statutory debt limit, set by Congress. That would mean the quasi-government agency could borrow no more money to cover its chronic deficits.
It needed an infusion of cash. Instead, it got an injection of bio-terrorism. Now it faces a shortage of public confidence as well as a shortage of funds, and some observers have questioned whether our universal mail delivery service can survive.
History tells us that it can — and will — weather this threat, just as it has survived other difficulties. It survived the telegraph, the first leap in technology that seemed to leave “snail mail” — or at least the Pony Express — in the dust. It survived the telephone — another marvel that many thought would render mail communication obsolete. It has survived radio, fax machines and computers. Now, 225 years after the founding fathers had the foresight to begin knitting a ragtag country together with a network of postal agents and mail routes that would connect every home and business in the nation, the U.S. Postal Service is a vital part of our economy and our daily lives.
It delivers more than 200 billion pieces of mail each year and serves 7 million customers a day at 38,000 Post Offices or branches. With 800,000 full-time employees, it is the second-largest civilian employer in the country, second only to Wal-Mart. The nearly $900 billion in revenue generated by the Postal Service and ancillary private mailing services accounts for about 9 percent of the nation’s economy, according to the Mail Industry Task Force. Quite a remarkable evolution from the rudimentary packet-and-pouch service overseen by colonial postmaster Ben Franklin.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the mission: The mail must go through. The daily “mail moment,” as one writer has described it, is more than an engine of commerce or a soulless distribution system for catalogs and credit-card solicitations. It’s part of the fabric or our culture, a commitment to connection and communication regardless of who you are or where you live.
Before the anthrax threat, it was easy to take that for granted — to grouse about rising rates, slow service or the occasional misdirected missive. But no more. Now, we add postal workers to the list of everyday heroes — firefighters, emergency workers, police officers and other public servants — whom we appreciate more deeply because of terrorists’ attacks.
Under severe duress, mail service has continued nonstop, and only under the most dire scenario is that likely to change. Even as the Postal Service faces new costs related to security measures and more reforms to keep it afloat financially, there’s little doubt it will survive as an institution. “The mail must go through” isn’t a quaint phrase; it’s a commitment to one of our founding ideals. The free and open flow of information is vital to the republic, and our daily mail moments are a reminder that the Postal Service continues to deliver on its promise.
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