Dear Editor:
I’m sure you’ve heard the news in regards to the ending of Saturday mail delivery effective Aug. 5, 2013. This announcement is being touted by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe as an effort to save the USPS, and is anything but that.
He predicts that the potential savings are over $2 billion dollars per year, but this number is refuted by many, including the Postal Rate Commission. It is a slash and burn, shrink to survive tactic that will not work.
I’m trying to get out the message that the elimination of our competitive edge of being there six days a week will open up your patrons’ mailboxes to outside agencies, paving the way to privatization. This is not only about the loss of more than 80,000 good paying, middle class jobs nationwide, it’s your right as it is the law to receive mail six days per week.
Any changes to the USPS should be argued in front of Congress, as it is they who have guaranteed us six-day delivery for the last 30 years, and should keep that right to do so.
Dave Van Aken
President
National Association of
Letter Carriers Branch 357
Long Island City and Sunnyside
