On Tuesday, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy put forth plans to revive the future of the post office and said that higher postage rates and slower first class mail could slow down the losses that are being incurred by the service.
His new 10-year plan for the post office clearly missed two important ideas: postal banking and alcohol delivery. These two activities can bring in billions of dollars and revive it, according to experts who include members of congress, economists and members of consumer advocacy groups.
Rakin Brooks, senior campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union said that the institution has to provide new services. Postal banking, which was offered in 1910 but petered off in the sixties, should be revived as it’s a win-win for all.
Congress also took note of postal banking last year when Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, introduced the Postal Banking Act. Its aim is to provide consumers with bank accounts and mobile banking services.
Melanie Long, an assistant professor of economics at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio is one among many economists who is in favor pf postal banking.
The American Postal Workers Union said that it supported postal banking and said that it was a “win-win-win proposal.”
Porter McConnell, who manages the Save the Post Office Coalition, noted that shipping alcohol was another way to increase revenues by millions of dollars. The Congressional Budget Office said that the Postal Service could make $50 million of it began delivery of alcohol across the nation.
In 2019, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Cali, introduced the USPS Shipping Equity Act, a bipartisan bill which would let the Postal Service deliver alcohol.
In a statement the American Postal Workers Union said it supported the addition of alcohol delivery as one of the ways the agency could expand and become profitable once again.
The post office can be fixed by letting it evolve into an agency of the 21st century. Expanding its services is the best way forward.
