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As a result of the pandemic, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is currently in need of financial help—with companies sending out far fewer advertisements, mail volume has dropped by a third, drastically impacting cash flow. To make matters worse, the president has threatened to veto any stimulus package that includes bailout money for the USPS.


So why is it important to save the United States Postal Service—an institution as old as America itself—and what can we do to help?

The USPS serves everyone

The postal service is unusual in that it serves every address in the United States. A stark comparison would be to consider the availability of high-speed internet in rural areas: Approximately 19 million Americans lack access to broadband internet, while many others have to deal with substandard and/or expensive internet access.


In contrast, the postal service serves every address in the United States, and for a constant price. If you want to send a letter from New York City to Nome, Alaska, the price will be 55 cents. If you want to send a letter from Alpine, Texas to Kaycee, Wyoming, that’ll also be 55 cents. In contrast, if you use a for-profit delivery service such as UPS or FedEx to send a letter to a rural area, you could be hit with a surcharge.

The USPS is how millions of Americans receive paychecks and information from their local government and community organizations. It’s how they vote for elected officials. And m ail service is one of the rare universal offerings: Many rural areas may not have access to decent cell phone service or cable television, but they all get the mail. The postal service is a public good, meant to serve everyone in the U.S., no matter where they live.

The USPS is funded through sale of stamps

The USPS has not received taxpayer funds since 1982, with its entire budget coming through the sale of stamps. So if you do want to help, buying stamps—and then waiting to use most or all of them until after the pandemic has passed and mail volume begins to recover—is a good way to support to USPS right now.


You can buy stamps at the USPS’s online store. The fantastic thing about buying them this way is that you can get pretty much whatever design you want, whether it is a stamp commemorating your favorite national park (Big Bend National Park looks lovely in miniature), a impactful historical figure (the lineup includes John Lennon or Sally Ride), or even a cool dinosaur (hello, Tyrannosaurus Rex).

Once you have your stamps in hand, you can go old school and send a hand-written card to a friend or family member. Do you remember the last time you received a hand-written letter in the mail? It felt pretty good, didn’t it?


Contact your elected officials

Buying stamps is a good start, but considering the postal service is an independent federal agency that performs a vital public service, it deserves to be supported like any other arm of government. Although the president has threatened to veto relief funds for the postal service, Congress has the power to override his veto, provided they have the votes to do so. So if you want to help, one action would be to call your senators and congressional representative to tell them you support relief funds for the USPS. You can find information on contacting your senators here and information on contacting your congressional representative here.


You can also sign a petition by texting USPS to 50409. Once you do this, an automated chat bot will ask for details such as your name and mailing address, then deliver your petition to your local elected officials. As of the morning of April 14, more than 200,000 people have signed this petition.

If you want to kill two birds with one stone, you can also send a postcard expressing your support for the USPS to your elected officials: No matter where you live, from rural Maine to Silicon Valley, a postcard stamp will cost you 35 cents.