Matthew Vegari ’13
The United States Postal Service recently announced its intention to cut next-day delivery and to let go almost 30,000 employees, indicating that once again the American government is failing to produce jobs. For the last two years, American media have been revolving around the economic crisis and high rate of unemployment in the United States. Repeatedly, the United States government has assured citizens that this is only a phase; however, recent job cuts in the nationalized postal service determines otherwise. One of the few socialist expenditures of the United States is the postal service. Despite the constant rise in stamp and delivery prices, the USPS has been unable to maintain a steady profit, each day pushing the service closer to bankruptcy. Their solution, however, is not for the government to provide for its own employees, but rather to cut jobs and service, resulting in a dissatisfied populace and an increase in unemployment. Next-day First-Class is soon to get the boot, a service that currently comprises 42% of the USPS’ revenue, and according to the Huffington Post, there is a potential for 250 processing facilities in the continental United States to be closed. The numbers are staggering, but what’s worse is that the USPS might eventually become obsolete. If the system continues on its degenerating path, more and more people will turn to private enterprises like FedEx and UPS for mail. But the lack of noteworthy service and the augmentation in private postage is not the greatest concern. The true question is, what are nearly 30,000 employees going to do? At present, there lacks a definitive response, and the American government has been less than willing to respond. The Obama administration announced certain plans in September to aid the postal service, and noted the possibility of cutting Saturday deliveries; however, this notion has yet to be reconsidered. The striking facet of the USPS existence is that the organization has not received direct income from taxpayers since the 1980’s. In fact, the majority of disposable income comes from the sale of packaging and stamps. The notable incline in stamp prices during the past decade has begun to aggravate senders, and the current price sits at 44 cents, almost half a dollar per letter. The United States government cannot assert the intention to create jobs while simultaneously allowing 30,000 postal workers’ jobs to be lost. While resources are slim at the moment, perhaps a slight dip into the United States’ funds would be for the country’s benefit. The current plan is to cut over six billion dollars in spending next year alone, but what if this number was buffered by a slight federal deposit? It seems these ideas waste money and render impractical in government. What then will become of the recently decreased unemployment rate (8.6 per cent)? Perhaps that number will rise once more.