Trump has described the postage service as a “joke”. Do not expect Amazon to replace her Nameh Roo

IThe cities that Washington, DC, is a stripping, the post office is the American Democracy Reception Office – sometimes the only public space ever. Here, the post office manager is the “human side of the government”, such as Senator Jennings Randolph Put it In 1976. “When such offices are closed, he cautioned,” The American flag comes down. “

Benjamin Franklin defended it in 1775, the roots of the American postal service – which aims to “” it “Connect the nation together– Larger than the republic itself. The constitution calls for “post and road offices yet.” Legally Required to provide a “basic and basic” service to all Americans. In Scottsbluf, Nebraska, the rural transport company is working on more than 700 miles per year to serve only two families.

But after years of red – and among the open hostility of the Trump administration – its future appears uncertain.

USPS has lost about $ 114 billion since 2007, according to financial reports, amid a decrease in the size of the message, competition from private transport companies and high employee costs. Meanwhile, the ghost of privatization is larger than ever.

“Postal Service is a joke”, Donald Trump He said Correspondents in 2020. Reform During his previous administration, he called for a restructuring “to return it to a sustainable business model or prepare it for future transfer from a government agency to a private company.”

Looking at this historic contempt, it was not surprising when the reports erupted in February that Trump was thinking Melting The agency leadership and its absorption in the Ministry of Commerce.

“The fate of USPs is no longer financially or administratively, but political,” James Ourork, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame, told me recently. “The position of the post office for public subscription will not be much in the current climate. Checks and balances have disappeared.”

In fact, Wales Vargo note For investors entitled “USPS privatization:” leaked framework last month. He reads: “Part can be carved and sold or public subscription.” The plan predicts that parcel prices increase by 30 % to 140 % via production lines and suggest the sale of the post office so that “value is harvested” from real estate.

However, if the parcel sector is carved, all the sacrifice will not bear the meat. Ourok says that investors will only seize the parts they can liquefy. This means closing small mail offices and ending home delivery on unintended roads.

Think about the mule train that descends into the territory of Havassobai in Grand Canyon; Small aircraft and seasonal boats that serve a little Destidy, Alaska, where residents can see Russia from their windows; Or Roberts and Washington point, where the mail crosses Canada to reach an American town. If the comprehensive service stumbles, these addresses are likely to be abandoned first.

People in affected postal symbols – more vulnerable to income – will have to travel to pick up parcels or pay sharp delivery costs. “These people will do less or not do it.”

But the cost of losing comprehensive service will be more than financial. The voting and voting votes are very important in rural areas with distant polling stations, and USPS guarantees that voters will reach voters. It also treats 1.2 billion prescriptions Shipments Every year, as of the year 2020, according to the National Association of Messages Tankers. In places that do not contain close banks, the post office may be the only site where residents can pay bills.

The rural postal workers play a civilian role that exceeds the transfer of mail. A Ticket The postmodians in the village from the 1970s explain the extent of their closeness in civil life: “People who come out of the city usually leave the keys to their home with the director of the post office … The residents leave notes with the director of the post office to restore friends later in the day.”

While the appearance of the Internet depicts this somewhat old photography, its essence remains correct. “Rural transport companies are still the fabric that connects some societies together,” Don Maston, head of the National Association for Rural Messages Survival. He added that in some cities, transport companies may be the only contact with the outside world – and therefore the lifeline. Transportation companies still implement “wellness checks” if the resident fails to collect his mail.

Mark Jameson spent 15 years as a post manager in a distant office in the mountains of North Carolina, where he was the only government worker in the city. Many people did not know reading and writing, so helped in written tasks. The oldest population will stop at the post office on their way home so that it can open the tractor. He assembled bikes at Christmas. The local residents referred to him as “the waiter”, because people came with stories of her soul and advice to search for her.

“There are still postal staff doing this,” Jameson said.

Although USPS has extracted an official sale so far under current management, its comprehensive service is already eroding actual terms. This year, the update of “delivery for America” ​​for a period of 10 years Plans It begins to try to save at least $ 36 billion. The plan will Slow service For about three quarters of the country’s postal symbols, according to the invitation group, the post office is saved, with Rural areas Bearing the biggest burden. The Postal Organizational Committee expressed its opposition to the plan in January, noting that it was “it was”Very anxious“On how to deprive rural societies.

Louis Digoy, former US Post Office, A plan announced in March To reduce 10,000 USPS functions. Amid Trump reports The Governor’s Council urged USPS To appoint a member of the Fedex David B -Steiner as Director of the Post Office, Bryn Rinvro, Chairman of the National Association of Messages Tankers, claimed a “anti -postal service” acquisition. (Steiner, He said who took the job in July He does not believe that USPS should be privatized and he believes “in the current structure of postal service as an independent and independent entity of executive power.”

At the same time, Amazon Logistics is running path To bypass USPS as the largest parcel carrier in size. The company also accelerates it in the rural areas of America, because the competencies driven by artificial intelligence make more ways to be economically viable. In April, it announced 4 billion dollars investment To expand the rural “last mile” network-three times its size by the end of next year and to reach 13,000 ZIP codes.

This will be welcome to these families. But Amazon drivers cannot go to an additional mile. They lack the civil responsibilities of government workers and their roads fluctuation A algorithm, and this means that it is difficult to build society’s relations.

What’s more, that the last Amazon network will only expand as long as it is profitable to do so. “I don’t see it goes to a train with a mule, right?” Christopher WW Show, author of the first -class book, said: American postal service, democracy and companies threat. Amazon driver will not sing the informal USPS logo: “Every piece, every title, every day.” Without legal mandate, why?

As one of Minnesota city hall writer said in the 1970s: “The post office is similar to drinking water. You cannot do it so that you don’t own it.”