The Save The Post Office Coalition
The Save the Post Office Coalition came together in summer 2020, soon after Postmaster Louis DeJoy began sabotaging the post office with service cuts and mail slowdowns. The coalition’s membership includes over 300 organizations that range from national groups like Public Citizen, ACLU, Take on Wall Street, NAACP, Indivisible, MoveOn, Color of Change, American Postal Workers Union, National Farmers Union, VoteVets, and RuralOrganizing.org, to state groups like Mainers for Accountable Leadership, Alaska PIRG, and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
In the First 100 Days
1. Fill Vacant Board of Governors Seats Immediately.
The Biden administration and the Senate must work to confirm four diverse and forward-looking members to the postal Board of Governors. Since Louis DeJoy is actively doing damage to the Post Office that may be irreversible, and the current board has not held him accountable, the Senate must prioritize these nominations, with or without Republican support.
Why Saving USPS Means a New Postal Board
2. Emergency Relief Legislation.
Congress must shepherd the passage of must-pass USPS emergency relief legislation which includes the elimination of the pre-funding mandate and postal banking enabling legislation, drawing on existing legislative proposals.
The postal board of governors has asked for:
- $25 billion in emergency COVID relief
- $25 billion for “shovel-ready” infrastructure (buildings and trucks)
- $25 billion in debt relief & additional lending authority from Treasury Dep’t
Total = $75 billion
Experts have determined that at a minimum, $25 billion is necessary to make USPS whole from COVID-19, only $10 billion of which has been approved by Congress.
3. Speech from President Biden.
President Biden must make a speech laying out a vision for the future of the post office as a community hub for services. This vision should include postal banking, but also expanded services like rural broadband and fishing licenses, senior checks, voter registration, adding value to bus and subway passes, and census outreach.
4. Name a Postal Czar.
In President Biden’s future of the post office speech or elsewhere, the President should name a focal point or a “postal czar.” The person nominated to the position would need to expressly support postal banking, have interagency experience, and take an expanded view of the post office’s role in our democracy.
How can I get involved?
If You Have 5 Minutes… Postmark Your Profile
1. Update your Twitter and Facebook profile pictures with our frames: Let your friends and followers know you’re standing with the public postal service.
Click here for Twitter.
Click here for Facebook.
2. Use #SaveUSPS and #SaveThePostOffice to share your story. Why do you support the Postal Service? Share your support on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using both hashtags!
3. Follow @APWUNational and @TakeOnWallSt for updates and actions in our fight.
If You Have 10 Minutes… Call Your Senators
Saving the Post Office requires URGENT Congressional action. Call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask for your Senator, and use this simple script:
“Hello, my name is _____ and my zip code is ______. Now that President Biden has officially nominated three strong candidates to the USPS Board of Governors, I am asking Senator ______ to vote to confirm all three nominees as soon as possible. We need these governors on the board immediately to put the brakes on DeJoy’s plans and stop him from destroying the post office. My friends and neighbors depend on the postal service to vote, receive life-saving medication, and run their small businesses, and we do not support Louis DeJoy’s plan for 10 years of mail slowdowns and price hikes. Thank you.”