The U.S. Postal Service must change, but the solution to its financial problems "cannot be to push mail out of the system," or to "abandon small-town America," National Newspaper Association Chief Executive Officer Tonda F. Rush told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today.
Rush said the lobbying group agrees that the service needs relief from "the way payments into benefits systems have been structured," and that it has "excess capacity," but she said closure of mail sorting facilities is "already affecting delivery of community newspapers that depend upon the mail, citing examples of subscribers lost because mail is being trucked into distant cities for processing," NNA said in a press release. "It makes no sense to transport newspaper bundles from a small town into an urban flats sorting center just to bring them back again unsorted," Rush said.
NNA, comprising mainly papers that rely on the mail, does not oppose closing small post offices, but Rush said the service may not be counting revenue from newspapers when deciding which offices produce too little revenue to keep open. And she reiterated the group's opposition to Saturday mail delivery. "We have made it clear that if the Postal Service will not deliver our newspapers on Saturdays, we need the help of Congress to make sure we can do it ourselves," by allowing newspaper carriers to use mailboxes, she said.
"The Postal Service must not abandon small town America," Rush said. "We urge Congress not to let the Postal Service abandon those who need it most." (Read more)
Rush said the lobbying group agrees that the service needs relief from "the way payments into benefits systems have been structured," and that it has "excess capacity," but she said closure of mail sorting facilities is "already affecting delivery of community newspapers that depend upon the mail, citing examples of subscribers lost because mail is being trucked into distant cities for processing," NNA said in a press release. "It makes no sense to transport newspaper bundles from a small town into an urban flats sorting center just to bring them back again unsorted," Rush said.
NNA, comprising mainly papers that rely on the mail, does not oppose closing small post offices, but Rush said the service may not be counting revenue from newspapers when deciding which offices produce too little revenue to keep open. And she reiterated the group's opposition to Saturday mail delivery. "We have made it clear that if the Postal Service will not deliver our newspapers on Saturdays, we need the help of Congress to make sure we can do it ourselves," by allowing newspaper carriers to use mailboxes, she said.
"The Postal Service must not abandon small town America," Rush said. "We urge Congress not to let the Postal Service abandon those who need it most." (Read more)
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