Begalka: Postal solvency is in the mail

The U.S. Postal Service will hike postage for the second time this year on July 14. Ouch.

The new rates include a five-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Forever stamp from 68 cents to 73 cents. The Postal Service’s Board of Governors also hiked the cost of mailing a one-ounce metered letter by a nickel to 69 cents and cost of mailing a postcard by three cents to 56 cents. The adjustments are part of an overall hike of about 7.8% and represent the fifth time since August 2021 that the price of postal products have gone up.

When first introduced in 2007, a Forever stamp was 41 cents. Little did I know, when I uncovered a cache of Liberty Bell stamps in my aunt’s desk drawer, they would appreciate more than my savings account.

“We have to have a dramatic rethinking about the purpose of the USPS and post offices,” said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat serving Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. “(Postmaster General) Louis DeJoy is driving the U.S. Postal Service into a ditch by raising rates and reducing service. That is a recipe for disaster. It will drive customers to mail fewer packages and letters, and instead turn to more electronic forms. If they can’t afford the mail, or they cannot rely on the mail being delivered in a timely fashion, I think we’re going to see the USPS go in a downward cycle.”

According to Reuters, the USPS reported a net loss of $6.5 billion during the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2023. It is unlikely to reverse that trend in 2024, with the volume of first-class mail falling to 1968 levels.

DeJoy has been touting his “Delivering for America” as key to delivering profitability to the U.S. Postal Service. It includes closing as many as 10,000 post offices and branches, as well as restructuring the delivery network. The consolidation of delivery operations into Sort and Delivery Centers is predicted to impact nearly 500 network mail processing locations, as well as 1,000 transfer hubs and 100,000 carrier routes. But DeJoy predicts it will reduce transportation and handling time, while boosting reliability.

And he insists the post office is more than halfway toward its goal of erasing $100 billion in losses.

Krishnamoorthi is skeptical.

“I would like to see more about that, and to see him testify before Capitol Hill,” he said. “The problem is DeJoy doesn’t take criticism well, so he avoids speaking. That means Congress is not able to provide the proper oversight.”

A big problem is not being able to fill all the letter carrier slots, Krishnamoorthi said, due to the demands of working multiple shifts and on weekends. He believes this “really challenging work environment” is something postmaster general and the nine-member board of governors should be addressing. The board, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the senate, serve nine-year terms. They earn $30,000 a year, plus a stipend of $300 a day for up to 42 days of meetings. Two seats are open.

President Biden’s March nomination of former Labor Department Secretary Marty Walsh remains — of course — “in the mail.”

On May 6, 2020, the Board of Governors, all selected by then-President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, announced DeJoy's appointment as postmaster general. But Krishnamoorthi insisted political affiliation is irrelevant.

“Regardless of who they are, as long as they embrace the mission of the USPS, I’m good with that,” he said. “I rely on the mail to deliver communications to my constituents. … One of my top complaints that come in the mail is about the mail: ‘I’m not receiving my check. I’m not receiving my packages. I’m not receiving my medicine. We know how important the USPS was during the pandemic. It was vital. Since then, DeJoy has slowly been dismantling the USPS. It’s going to be marked ‘return to sender.’”

How did we get to this point? Considering Des Plaines’ connection to railroads, I immediately thought of the celebrated Railroad Post Office operations of the past which boosted efficiency by combining the transportation and sorting of mail. In the 1800s, according to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, RPO cars were used on more than 9,000 train routes. Trains magazine notes: “By 1951, the network was still robust (30,000 clerks, 3,200 cars, 165,000 miles) — handling 93% of all nonlocal mail.”

But following World War II, sorting shifted to large, mechanized regional centers. “As the Postal Service canceled mail-by-rail contracts, passenger trains that relied on mail revenue lost more and more money,” according to the IRM. That eventually led to the creation of Amtrak in 1971.

Another hurdle was the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which required the Postal Service to prefund its retirees’ health benefits for 75 years. A law passed in 2002 eliminates this and is expected to save the agency $27 billion by 2032. But without the support of tax dollars, mail operations are completely dependent on the sale of services and products, such as stamps.

If it is any comfort, we went through a similar crisis in the 1840s.

“Average citizens, fed up with high prices — sending a letter more than 150 miles cost around 20 cents, or roughly $6 today — were turning to cheaper private carriers, almost putting the Post Office out of business,” Smithsonian Magazine wrote. “In response, Congress converted the post into a public service that no longer had to break even, and in 1845 slashed letter postage to 5 to 10 cents, depending on distance.”

Would a similar price cut today generate enough additional volume to offset the financial impact? Hard telling. But Krishnamoorthi believes something must change.

“The mail is a public service meant to knit the country together, and it is meant to deliver the mail in an affordable manner,” he said. “But the more you rob people of convenience, the less they rely on you.”

How Chicago was built

The Des Plaines History Center, 781 Pearson St., welcomes Krista August at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13, for a presentation on the battle to make Chicago buildable. “Chicago Engineered: The Taming of the Swamp” shares the techniques and innovative thinking required to transform swampland into a major metropolis.

August, who earned mathematics and graduate education degrees from Northwestern and DePaul universities, respectively, spent years serving as a walking tour guide for the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The program is free, but donations are appreciated.

Taste of Des Plaines

Also, make sure to stop by our booth between 5-8 p.m. Friday, June 14, along Ellinwood Street during Taste of Des Plaines. Learn how you can make a little history of your own!

• Kurt Begalka is executive director of the Des Plaines History Center. He may be reached at kbegalka@desplaineshistory.org.