FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 20, 2023
Thirty-six public interest groups led by The Save The Post Office Coalition sent a letter to the Postal Service Board of Governors Chair Martinez and Vice Chair McReynolds calling on the board to restore and expand the public comment period at their quarterly open session meetings.
As the letter says, the chance for the public to comment substantively is essential to the public service promise and reputation of the Postal Service as a public agency, and it must be protected and expanded.
Members of The Save the Post Office Coalition and other stakeholders were surprised and deeply concerned at the board’s recent step to limit public comment to once a year, announced during the November 14 quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors. The public comment period is the sole opportunity the public has to directly reach the senior leadership of the Postal Service to inform them of the everyday realities they experience when interacting with the agency.
“Stakeholders were allowed a mere 25 seconds to comment this summer, and then were told at this fall’s meeting that the board would only allow the public to speak once a year in 2024. During a time of chaotic leadership and major changes, that is deeply worrisome” says Annie Norman of The Save the Post Office Coalition.
Just this year alone, mail customers, stakeholders, public interest groups, and postal workers have brought the postal service invaluable direct feedback on critical issues such as: mail slow downs, price hikes, and service and delivery quality. Outside stakeholders provide valuable and much-needed perspective that, when done right, makes USPS stronger. Public comment is to be sought, not avoided.
The Save the Post Office Coalition came together in the summer of 2020 after Postmaster Louis DeJoy was appointed and began cutting service and slowing down the mail. The coalition’s membership includes over 300 organizations that range from national groups like Public Citizen, ACLU, NAACP, LCCHR, Indivisible, MoveOn, Color of Change, National Farmers Union, VoteVets, and RuralOrganizing.org, to state groups like Mainers for Accountable Leadership, Alaska PIRG, and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. Our asks of Congress and the Biden administration are here.
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