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Being in the Room Where It Happens

Being in the Room Where It Happens
By Bob Levi
NAPS Director of Legislative & Political Affairs

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s insightful lyrics in his Tony Award-winning Broadway masterpiece, “Hamilton,” rings so true even today: “I’ve got to be in the room where it happens.” The entire song recounts how behind closed doors three of our nation’s Founding Fathers—Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison—crafted one the most foundational deals in American history. The lyrics, sung by the actor portraying Aaron Burr, lament being left out of the room where it happened.

Last month’s legislative conference in our nation’s capital reconfirmed NAPS’ steadfast resolve not to be left out of the room as key decisions are made, but to play a prominent role in influencing those decisions from within the room. Our visible advocacy ensures that NAPS’ views and priorities help guide the contours of legislation, regulations and policies as they impact postal supervisors, managers and postmasters. Consistent with this strategy, NAPS has been engaged.

Over the past six months, members of Congress have invited NAPS to share its knowledge and observations as First-Class Mail performance has suffered. This performance shortfall coincides with the operational consolidations through the Sorting and Delivery Center process.

In most instances, community input and collaboration have been seriously deficient. More concerning is the absence of congressional engagement prior to the execution of the logistics changes. Constituents are complaining and members of Congress are left in the dark. Congressional members who once were strong postal advocates have turned into critics.

One need not look further than Houston, TX, as one example of how the lack of employee and community engagement with Postal Headquarters has negatively impacted performance. In fact, the situation has become so dire that, in late February, House Government Operations & the Federal Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) convened a congressional briefing with upper postal management, which included House Oversight and Accountability Committee staff, for an explanation and a solution.

It had been reported in local Houston news media that, in USPS management’s mad dash to implement facility realignment, it deployed a piece of machinery that failed to fit in the space allotted. This miscalculation contributed to significant mail delays. Nationwide, January’s First-Class Mail performance fell short with only 82.56% being delivered on time, trailing the same period last year by about 9%. The fiscal year 2024 target is 92.5%.

The new White House initiative, “Investing in Rural America,” offers another point of NAPS’ legislative and regulatory engagement. After all, the Postal Service enjoys a special relationship with rural America. This relationship must not be undermined through untested initiatives that have the potential to compromise rural mail service or accountable postmaster presence.

The unchallenged mission of both the U.S. Postal Service and NAPS to “bind our nation together” is cemented in the agency’s obligation to provide all Americans universal service. This unique responsibility does not come without cost—a cost that should be borne by the U.S. Treasury.

In the past two years, the current administration assumed some postal costs, including a pandemic-related $10 billion expenditure and $3 billion to modernize the postal delivery fleet. However, there are ongoing costs to sustain universal service.

In late February, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), as part of its Annual Report to the President and Congress, estimated the costs incurred by the Postal Service in providing for universal service. The annual estimate is required under law.

There are three aspects to the Postal Service’s universal service obligation. First, the agency is obligated to provide services to areas of the country that are not profitable, meaning the agency would not otherwise provide the service if not required. These services include maintaining small and rural post offices, mail service to rural Alaska and free post office boxes to rural postal customers not offered delivery to their physical addresses.

Second, the Postal Service is obligated to provide reduced postage for certain categories of Periodical, Marketing and Library mail. Third, the Postal Service is required to provide six-day delivery, uniform rates for First-Class Mail and Media and Library mail. Finally, the agency funds the Postal Inspection Service.

In sum, for fiscal year 2023, the PRC projected the universal service obligation costs the Postal Service approximately $6 billion. It might be time for the federal government to assume some, if not all, of the cost of providing universal mail service to its citizens.

In addition to estimating this cost, the PRC also projected the value of the “postal monopoly.” This estimate is important because postal privatization proposals recently have been resurrected. One such proposal is opening the mailbox to U.S. Postal Service competitors.

In anticipation of such a threat, the PRC has taken on the task of projecting the revenue the agency would lose if its “mailbox monopoly” were to be jettisoned. The PRC concluded that the revenue lost could be up to $9.6 billion. No doubt, NAPS continues to protect the sanctity of the mailbox.

As a result of NAPS being in the room, the interests of supervisors, managers and postmasters are advanced.