Let’s Bank on (and with) the U.S. Postal Service, Post Haste
The United States’ favorite federal agency serves as a daily connection in and between our communities. It needs strengthening, not neglect
This ‘letter to the editor’ was submitted to, but not accepted by, The New York Times for publication.
To the Editor:
RE: “Trump Called the Postal Service a ‘Joke.” I’m Trying to Save It” (Opinion, April 26, 2020)
I commend Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and her Postal Banking Act, which if enacted will leverage “the Postal Service’s 30,000-plus locations to create access to a nonprofit bank in every community in the country, from low-income urban neighborhoods to rural areas.”
Offering a Postal Saving System from 1911 to 1967, the Postal Service helped us through both world wars. Now, its 600,000-plus employees help us through our war against coronavirus. A lifeline, Postal Service’s life is now on the line — with misguided attempts to dismantle it. Americans’ favorite federal agency need strengthening.
Senator Gillibrand’s act is common sense for a common cause, as expressed by the Alliance for Retired Americans that adopted a Resolution in Favor of Enacting Postal Banking.
Handwritten notes and cards carry more weight than their one-ounce postage suggests. Pen in hand, put this to the test.Write an older relative you know whose budding courtship with their future spouse was made possible through the Postal Service [P.S.], lending greater meaning to “P.S. I love you.”
Philip C. Marshall
South Dartmouth, MA
The writer is the grandson of Brooke Astor, New York City philanthropist and victim of elder abuse. He is lead advocate for the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act.
Tweet —
#saveUSPSposthaste, let’s message our immediate need to save the @USPS, and expand services community and country wide to include banking — as advanced by @SenGillibrand and expressed by resolution (2014) by @ActiveRetirees, and many more leaders https://medium.com/@philipcmarshall/lets-bank-on-and-with-the-u-s-postal-service-post-haste-964aa2eb3e1d
