Quick hits: SS Edmund Fitzgerald mystery remains; internet carriers team up; complex beef pricing; what to wear for extreme-weather reporting

At 729-feet, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was the longest ship traveling through the Great Lakes
before it was 'swallowed' by Lake Superior. (Wikipedia photo) 

It's still a story investigative reporters are exploring: What caused the massive SS Edmund Fitzgerald to sink 17 miles from the safety of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin? "On November 9, 1975, the ship left Superior, Wisconsin, with more than 26,000 tons of taconite pellets aboard. By the next evening, Lake Superior had swallowed the Edmund Fitzgerald whole," reports Andrew Daniels of Popular Mechanics. "One answer may be the ship’s cargo hatches. Ric Mixter, who visited the Fitzgerald wreck in the 1990s, said that if he could return, he would take photos of every hatch clamp and investigate where the taconite ended up." Read Pop Mech's deep dive on the famous ship's final voyage here. Listen to Gordon Lightfoot's haunting ballad about the fate of the Edmund Fitzgerald and its 29-member crew here. 

It's expensive for U.S. ranchers to increase their herds.
(Photo by Daniel Quiceno M, Unsplash)

Why can't farmers just raise more cattle so the price of beef will come down? "Ranchers say it's not that simple," reports Jack Dura of The Associated Press. "It’s never been so expensive for Americans to buy a steak or hamburger. … The dwindling number of cattle is a key reason the average price of all uncooked ground beef in the U.S. was $6.86 per pound in March." Even with high beef demand and high prices, ranchers still have to consider the cost of adding to their herd. Livestock owners are already paying more for the cattle they do have because drought and wildfires have left ranchers no choice but to pay for additional feed and water to be delivered to herd sites. 

Despite efforts to get the entire country online, many U.S. residents still live in areas without internet access, but that problem could soon change. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Communications announced that they are "setting aside their differences and forming a joint venture that will help end wireless dead zones across the U.S., especially in rural and underserved areas," reports Connor Hart of The Wall Street Journal. "The companies said the initiative will help the U.S. extend its global leadership in wireless communications technology … "

Handwritting letters is good for the human brain.
(Photo by T.D. Aran, Unsplash)

Handwriting letters may seem more than a trifle old-fashioned, but revisiting the aged tradition of letter, pen and stamp can reap benefits. Elizabeth Passarella of The New York Times writes, "Research shows that writing by hand lights up multiple parts of your brain — areas that are associated with creativity, memory and your senses — in a way that emailing does not. … Unlike chatting, writing makes you slow down and decide which details of your life are meaningful enough to share." Readers interested in tips to get started with a letter-writing habit can click here.

Whether it's tornado, wildfire or hurricane season, journalists need to be ready to hit the natural disaster beat. But first, preparations need to be made, and extreme-weather reporter Judson Jones is here to help reporters look good no matter what Mother Nature blasts. "Shortly after returning from a trip to chase hailstorms, Jones gave me a rundown of his core outfit packing list that keeps him ready for any assignment," reports Kyle Fitzgerald of Wirecutter. "We talked about why the way he unpacks is as important as the way he packs, as well as the need to bring multiple hats." After years of trial and error, Jones has even found a jacket that keeps him dry during hurricane rain and winds and is stylish enough to wear to dinner post-storm reporting. Read his picks and tips here. 

The world loves American cheese and butterfat products.
(Photo by Edward Howell, Unsplash)

Global cheese and butterfat demand continues to climb, helping American dairy farmers slice off profits even as milk production continues to increase. Cheese exports in March broke records with "over 63,435 metric tons exported, which is an all-time high for single-month exports," reports Sarah Jungman of Dairy Herd Management. The 2026 gain represents a 29% jump in cheese exports over March of 2025. "Butterfat and anhydrous milk fat exports also set a single-month record at 17,074 metric tons shipped, 109.9% higher than March of 2025." During the first quarter of 2026, Mexico exported the largest chunk of American dairy products. 

Opinion: Congress needs to act before the U.S. Postal Service goes 'bust' because of 'outdated constraints'

The USPS does 'what no other business would do.'
(Photo by Victória Kubiaki, Unsplash)

The U.S. Postal Service does what no private company can: It delivers mail 6 days a week to every address in the country at an affordable price. But the business model the USPS has been mandated to use is outdated and has plunged the delivery titan into insurmountable debt. Should the USPS be allowed to go bust? No. Congress needs to address USPS structural problems now, writes The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Last week, the USPS "reported a $2 billion quarterly loss. 'We are in a cash crisis,' Postmaster General David Steiner said. 'We require urgent Congressional action to expand our borrowing authority and to address outdated constraints on the organization," the board writes. "The important part for lawmakers to hear is that last part."

The USPS business model was implemented when letter delivery and profits were reliable sources of revenue. Since the advent of email, Evites and online communications for almost every business need, the demand for "snail mail" sank, and with it, USPS profits. They write, "Last year the USPS handled 108.7 billion pieces, down 49% from a peak of 213.1 billion in 2006. A majority of what’s left is euphemistically categorized as 'marketing mail.'"

When Steiner testified to the House about the state of USPS finances and its inability to address losses without sizable shifts in its business model, he candidly pointed out the massive demands and their corresponding expenses that the USPS undertakes every day, saying, "We deliver from the tip of Puerto Rico to the tip of Alaska for 78 cents. That’s a distance of 5,000 miles.”

When addressing the House, the "Postmaster laid out two paths: 'First would be to remove the mandates that ensure the Postal Service loses money,'" the board writes, "Second, 'public service reimbursement,' meaning 'payment by Congress in return for the Postal Service doing what no other business would do.'" The editorial board writes, "Start with option one, and let Steiner run the business like a business."

Amazon's rural hubs speed up reliable delivery. In 4 years, the company could deliver to every U.S. ZIP code.

A look inside Amazon's 17,000-square-foot Missoula facility. 
(Photo by Eric Dietrich, Montana Free Press)

Amazon is betting that its rural hub expansion plans will help it increase sales and delivery services to its more remote-living customers while lessening its dependence on the U.S. Postal Service, reports Sean McLain of The Wall Street Journal. The company "aims ultimately to have 200 rural delivery hubs serving around 13,000 ZIP Codes covering around 1.2 million square miles of America — an area the size of Texas, California and Alaska combined."

By opening rural hubs, Amazon hopes to "reduce its reliance on the U.S. Postal Service, a relationship that has become rocky following a dispute over contract terms," McLain writes. The company has also used United Parcel Service to complete the final leg of deliveries, which hasn't always gone smoothly either. "In 2013, a sudden surge in Amazon orders overwhelmed UPS, causing some packages to not make it in time for Christmas."

Residents in Conner, Montana, who used to wait about a week for their packages to arrive, are already reaping the benefits of speedy deliveries from the rural hub Amazon built on the outskirts of Missoula. Now most Conner-bound packages arrive within Amazon's traditional two-day window. McLain adds, "Around 14,000 packages leave the [Missoula] warehouse on an average day."

Rural Amazon routes require delivery drivers to carefully plan and be ready to handle extreme weather, big horn sheep, dirt or mud roads, high winds and mountain passes. McLain reports, "Deliveries to the Missoula warehouse come from a large urban hub in Spokane, Wash., a three-hour drive across two mountain passes."

Despite backcountry travel and weather challenges, Amazon plans to "construct around 40 to 50 new delivery hubs a year," McLain reports. At that pace, the company should "be able to ship packages to every U.S. ZIP Code in four years."

Congress could change USPS finances and avoid more service cuts that disproportionately hurt rural areas

Rural residents are more dependent on 
the USPS. (Photo by A. Land, Unsplash)

The U.S. Postal Service can't borrow any more money to cover ongoing deficits, and unless changes to its funding are made, USPS leadership has warned that the service will run out of money sometime in 2026. Elena Patel reports for Brookings.  "This fiscal crisis reflects a structural mismatch between what Congress requires the Postal Service to do and how it is financed."

When the USPS was created, its financial foundations included a monopoly on letter delivery tied to a universal service mandate; however, as the number of letters mailed in the U.S. steadily declined beginning in 2007, the universal service requirement remained in place. The lack of letter revenue essentially meant USPS could no longer afford to deliver to all 169 million addresses that Congress mandated it serve with affordable rates.

Once letter revenue tanked, the USPS still delivered to every address despite the financial toll. "The USPS nationwide delivery network ensures that access does not depend on geography or profitability," Patel explains.

Brookings graph, from USPS Form 10-K Operating Statistics, FY 2007–2025.

For rural communities, USPS mail carriers often go the "last mile" to complete a delivery. The mail is a backbone for small-town businesses, finances and even medical care. Patel writes, "Particularly in low-density and rural communities, the mail remains essential infrastructure. It delivers prescription medications, ballots, and online purchases, and it supports local small-business activity."

Patel suggests some USPS changes that Congress could enact, which are edited for brevity below.

• Restructure pension liability finances, "including shifting these costs to the Treasury, as is done for other federal agencies."
• Pay universal service costs: "The cost of the universal service obligation exceeded the value of the postal monopoly by roughly $2-$3 billion per year for the last several years. . . . Congress could fund that mandate explicitly through annual appropriations."
• Increase the USPS borrowing cap and allocate funds for infrastructure improvements. "Additional capital flexibility could ease short-term liquidity pressures and allow USPS to finance modernization over time rather than from current cash flows."

Congress can "realign the financing framework with the universal service mandate it has imposed," Patel adds. "Or it can allow liquidity constraints to narrow that mandate by default. In practice, that 'default' path would likely involve deferred payments, delayed investment, and increased pressure for service cuts that fall most heavily on the communities most reliant on the mail."

Quick hits: Mail riders of the past; the future of meat; child care solution; Thoreau's cabin; PFAS-free water

A mail rider makes his way through a creek bed near
Jackson, Ky., in 1940. (Library of Congress photo)

Over hill and dale and on all kinds of trails, horseback postal routes required mail riders to face treacherous paths, wild weather, unpredictable wildlife and inaccurate maps. "Routes they took were originally Native American and traders’ paths and roads carved through the forests, river valleys and mountains," writes Todd Kozak for Lancaster Farming. "Post riders and their horses worked in all weather and on set schedules. . . . A map of post routes published by the post office in 1897 shows a myriad of routes and offices. By the early 1920s, most of them had vanished."

Human diets of the future might not be about going vegan, quitting bacon or eschewing beef. Instead, Bruce Friedrich, author of Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food and Our Future, presents "alternative meat" as the planet's best answer. "And to be clear, he’s not talking about gardenburgers or tofurkey," writes Sarah Isgur of The Dispatch. "We now have the ability to take real meat cells from an animal and replicate them. The product is actually meat, but it’s not from a dead animal. . . . Alternative meat can’t compete by being better for the environment or nicer for animals. For most people, he acknowledges, food is not an ethical decision. It has to taste as good and be as cheap. . . ."

At Little Break, parents can be on-site with their 
children and still get their work done. (Little Break photo)

For parents struggling to find affordable child care, a new model being used in Michigan offers a solution that combines parental work spaces with a child care center. "Users say its prices are a fraction of what other daycare centers charge," reports Anna Patton of Reasons to be Cheerful. "Little Break" is a nonprofit, non-licensed child care facility where "parents must remain on-site, and take care of feeding and diaper changes. Otherwise, they get on with work in an adjoining room, while paid staff. . . watch the children." An added perk of the model is that parents can be there to witness childhood milestones they would otherwise miss.

Tired of their current work lives, some mid-career professionals have left their jobs and trained in a trade. "At 27, Lauren O’Connor was living paycheck to paycheck as a Montessori teacher, making $29 an hour with no benefits," report Allison Pohle and Te-Ping Chen of The Wall Street Journal. "Today, the 33-year-old earns $45 an hour — brazing, welding and soldering pipes for a local contractor. Though she sees more women on job sites these days, it wasn’t that way at first. Proving herself to the guys was stressful, she says." Other trades career-changers took up were airline pilot, electrical apprentice and cardiovascular sonographer.

 Original title page of Walden featuring a 
picture drawn by Thoreau's sister Sophia.

Among more modern fans of Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book, Walden or Life in the Woods, a group is building "full-scale replicas" of the late transcendentalist's cabin, reports Dorie Chevlen of The New York Times. Thoreau's book, which centers on simple life and self-reliance, recounts how he built his little cabin all on his own, except when neighbors helped him raise the frame. Two brothers, Jasper and Satchel Sieniewicz, who worked together to build a replica, "can’t believe it was a one man job. . . . Even using a sawmill and power tools, it took them three summers of labor ... Thoreau was living in his cabin in under three months." Read how other Thoreau fans fared with their Walden cabins here. 

In the small community of Rothschild, Wis., the water is healthier because it's nearly PFAS free. PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," can cause devastating health issues for humans. The village used settlement dollars to build a new water treatment facility. "This facility is actively working to decrease the levels of PFAS in the community's drinking water," reports Dylan Eckhart of WAOW. The Rothschild plant "utilizes a granular activated carbon filtration system to remove PFAS. . . .PFAS contamination became a concern for Rothschild residents in 2022 when it was detected in a sample from village wells."

The day a letter is mailed at a U.S. Post Office may no longer be the day it is postmarked

A USPS postmark is now stamped at regional facilities.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Few ink stamps are as crucial to meeting modern deadlines as the U.S. Postal Service postmark; however, at the end of last month, USPS changed its transportation and stamping processes, potentially delaying when mail is physically postmarked.

Beginning on Dec. 24, a postmark "no longer shows the date you deposited a piece of mail with the U.S. Postal Service," reports Esther Fung of The Wall Street Journal. Instead, mail will be postmarked when it's processed at a regional facility, which could be days after it's mailed locally.

The USPS changed its postmark rule "as part of long-running efforts to modernize and cut costs," Fung writes. "Reducing postal-truck runs between processing facilities and local post offices can cut costs and emissions."

While the USPS doesn't classify postmarking as part of "its services," many systems and people, including the Internal Revenue Service, legal professionals, election officials and health insurers, use postmarks as evidence that something mailed met a set deadline.

The best way to ensure an important piece of mail gets postmarked on time is to go to the post office where it can be manually stamped. Fung adds, "Yet, that could be hard for people living in rural areas far from a post office."

For deadline-mandated postmarks on items such as taxes, college applications, and health insurance appeals, experts recommend mailing documents several days in advance, so the mail has time to reach the processing facility for its official postmark.

Supreme Court's ruling on mail-in ballot deadlines could have an outsized impact in rural areas

Both Republicans and Democrats have large numbers
of voters who mail their ballots. (Adobe Stock photo)

The U.S. Supreme Court plans to rule on mail-in ballot deadlines this term, which could have an outsized impact on a subset of voters, including thousands of rural voters, should the court decide that ballots arriving after Election Day must be tossed.

The case centers on a Mississippi law that allows mailed ballots to be counted even when they arrive after Election Day, but roughly "18 states and territories accept such late-arriving ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day," report Nick Corasaniti and Christine Zhang of The New York Times.

Should the court decide that all votes must be received by Election Day, mail-in voters from rural areas will be challenged to mail their votes early enough to be counted.

Voters in the southwestern town of Medford, Oregon, provide a good example. When a Medford voter mails a ballot from the local post office, it doesn't go to the "town clerk’s office only a few miles away," the Times reports. "Instead, it travels about 280 miles north on Interstate 5 to Portland, to get a postmark stamped, before returning to the Medford elections office to be counted."

Rural mail services are also more likely to be delayed by local weather conditions or traffic bottlenecks due to bad weather or natural disasters far from their zip codes.

States with sprawling rural areas and high electoral college numbers, such as California, Texas, Illinois, and New York, currently allow late-arriving ballots to be counted. Should the Supreme Court ax that allowance, both parties could see Election Day impacts.

No matter what the Supreme Court decides, ongoing election education can remind citizens how and when to vote. David Becker, from the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told the Times, "For people who are voting once every four years, or once every two years, they’re not familiar with all these procedures and changes."

House panel has a ‘near-universal consensus’ on pausing the U.S. Postal Service’s planned changes

The USPS will have new leadership who may rethink
 recent plans. (Photo by Clay Leconey, Unsplash)

Over the past few decades, the United States Postal Service has struggled to stay financially afloat and transition from a letter-delivery service to more of a package-delivery service. USPS leadership has faced an uphill battle to maintain its mission — to accept and deliver mail to every address in the U.S., its territories, and possessions — while remaining solvent.

The last Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, retired after his 10-year plan, Delivering for America, floundered and repeatedly angered lawmakers. “As a new leader takes the helm of the U.S. Postal Service, a House panel debated the future of the independent entity,” reports Sean Michael Newhouse of Government Executive. “There was a near-universal consensus on pausing and even reversing" DeJoy's plans. 

Mike Plunkett, the CEO and president of the Association for Postal Commerce, told the panel, “Under the Delivering for America plan, our members have suffered unprecedented rate increases and service degradation. . . . If the incoming PMG is to have any chance at success, the postal service must immediately pause implementation of Delivering for America.”

Plunkett suggested a “moratorium on rate increases, a pause in spending on building new facilities and halting any product changes while new leadership assesses what reforms to keep, modify or unwind,” Newhouse writes. “Jim Cochrane, the CEO of the Package Shippers Association, a trade organization, testified that USPS needs a ‘new vision’ to improve its finances.”

David Steiner, who previously served as the CEO of Waste Management and as a member of the FedEx board, was selected by the bipartisan USPS Board of Governors to become the next Postmaster General.

“DeJoy was pressured to resign [in March] due to conflicts with the Department of Government Efficiency," Newhouse reports. “President Donald Trump, who reportedly backed Steiner, has mused about privatizing USPS or folding it under the Commerce Department.”

U.S. postal workers and letter carriers push against Trump and Musk's privatizing pitch

USPS has the largest physical and logistical infrastructure
of any non-military government institution. (Photo via IPR)

The U.S. Postal Service continues its uphill battle to modernize its processes and manage its financial woes. Meanwhile, it faces a new challenge -- the possibility of privatization by the Trump administration. Mail carriers and advocates believe privatizing the USPS would leave rural residents facing slower and fewer mail deliveries.

"In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have floated the idea of privatizing U.S. mail services," reports Michael Livingston of Interlochen Public Radio, which serves northern Michigan. "Trump said he’s considering putting USPS under the control of the Commerce Department, which he says will help fix declining profits at USPS. The agency has been independent and mostly self-funded since 1970."

Letter carriers oppose the change, with Trump and Musk's discussion leading to "mass protests by postal workers and letter carriers across the country last month. A national 'day of action' took place in more than 150 cities on March 20," Livingstone adds. "Letter carriers say that would be detrimental to rural areas . . ."

Doug Bartlett, president of the Michigan Rural Letter Carriers Association, told Livingston, "If a private company comes in and takes over the post office, they're going to cherry-pick where they can make money, and that's going to be our urban areas, short distances to get out and deliver stuff. And it's going to be our rural areas that'll be poor."

The USPS delivers to every address in the nation, which means its carriers are the ones getting checks, medicines and election ballots to the most remote-living Americans. Any changes to its services mean rural areas will likely be impacted. Bartlett told Livingston, "Rural delivery out in the real rural areas could be cut back to maybe as much as one or two days a week. That would be devastating for people that need those items."

Rural letter carriers rally against USPS privatization; about 51.3 million rural Americans could be impacted

More than 100 rural letter carriers gathered to rally
against USPS privatization. (The Daily Yonder photo)

Rural letter carriers from around the country gathered last week at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to "rally in support of the U.S. Postal Service, which they said faces an increasing threat of privatization under President Donald Trump," reports Julia Tilton for The Daily Yonder. "The rally was attended by members of Congress from both sides of the aisle."

The event also announced the "launch of the NRLCA’s National Campaign to Protect the U.S. Postal Service from Privatization, which the union said is its top priority to preserve what it calls a 'critical institution that serves rural America and the country at large,'" Tilton writes. "Approximately 51.3 million rural addresses would be disproportionately impacted by the privatization of the USPS, according to NRLCA National President Don Maston."

Part of the USPS service mandate is to get mail and packages across the "last miles," which can add to delivery expenses. Tilton explains, "It is unprofitable for private companies to deliver mail to the end of long dirt roads located 50 or 100 miles from the nearest post office, Maston said. Privatization would add surcharges to such rural deliveries, which include essential goods like prescription medications and documents like Social Security checks and ballots."

Maston told the Yonder: “Rural Americans rely on rural carriers. In fact, the entire community relies on the rural carrier, and that sense of community would be taken away, and the disproportionately impacted group in the Postal Service would be rural carriers, rural Americans, and rural communities.”

Rally speakers "called for bipartisan support for House Resolution 70, a resolution in the House of Representatives that affirms the Postal Service’s role as a federal institution and opposes privatization," Tilton adds. "Since being introduced at the end of January, the resolution has garnered 180 cosponsors. . . . After the rally, more than 100 rural postal workers headed to meetings with members of Congress to ask for their support in backing the USPS."

U.S. postmaster general plans to step down; his planned changes could have impacted rural communities the most

After four difficult years, DeJoy is stepping down
from his post. (Adobe Stock photo)

 

Earlier this week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced plans to step down "capping a contentious tenure since his 2020 appointment during the first Trump administration," reports Ester Fung of The Wall Street Journal. "The U.S. Postal Service didn’t provide a date for DeJoy’s exit." His resignation comes as the USPS continues to roll out its 10-year turnaround plan. 

With only modest improvements, increased debts and persistent delivery problems at the Postal Service, some lawmakers have regularly grilled DeJoy for what they see as a failed strategy. Fung reports, "The Postal Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that oversees the Postal Service, last month criticized his plan as having 'overly optimistic and unsubstantiated financial projections for cost savings' and said it could hurt rural communities."

DeJoy has repeatedly defended his plans and pointed out that "when he first arrived at the Postal Service, it was in 'devastating condition' and resistant to change, and faced excessive regulatory oversight," Fung adds.

Some of DeJoy's restructuring plans were successful, "including consolidating routes, replacing aging vehicles and improving working conditions in several facilities," Fung explains. "The agency has also taken market share in small packages from private-sector rivals such as FedEx and UPS as it ferries more parcels over longer distances, not just for final-mile deliveries."

Even with improved small package revenues, the Postal Service continues to lose money. Fung adds, "In 2024, the agency reported a net loss of $9.5 billion, which, after adjusting for workers’ compensation and retirement liabilities, resulted in a controllable loss of $1.8 billion." The Postal service does not rely on federal funding to pay its bills. Instead, it depends on the sale of postage, products and other services to cover its costs.

DeJoy's exit may not come as a surprise. "The Trump White House had been considering replacing DeJoy, according to two people familiar with the matter," Fung adds, "though the postmaster general is typically chosen by the board and not the president."

Postal Service watchdog finds 'little convincing evidence' reforms will help; instead, plans will hurt rural communities

Despite its struggles, 72% of Americans see
the USPS favorably. (Adobe Stock photo)

The United States Postal Service is hemorrhaging money while struggling to complete its basic mission of delivering mail to American citizens.

An advisory review by the Postal Regulatory Commission found that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 'Delivering for America' plan "offers ‘little convincing evidence’ its reform plans will succeed," reports Eric Katz of Government Executive. PRC said planned USPS reforms could negatively impact rural service areas.

In its review, PRC "examined two parts of DeJoy’s plan: its Regional Transportation Optimization initiative, which requires mail to sit overnight at post offices instead of being collected each evening for transportation to a processing center, and its processing plant consolidations that will result in the 60 regional processing distribution centers," Katz explains. PRC regulators said the initiatives lacked planning and were unlikely to streamline work, increase efficiency and produce impactful savings.

Regulators noted how the USPS was "glossing over how much more significantly rural communities would feel the impacts of the changes," Katz reports. "Some populations will not receive First-Class mail pieces for six or more days, it said. Those impacts may render the reforms in violation of the law, the commission added."

USPS has not responded to PRC's recommendations; however, DeJoy "previously promised to lawmakers he would take the PRC’s opinion seriously and tweak his plan as he saw fit," Katz writes. "PRC made more than three dozen recommendations for updating DeJoy’s reforms. . . . Postal management also recently announced lower on-time delivery targets for 2025."

Opinion: U.S. Postal Service should deliver mail, not profits. Privatization 'would be a nightmare for rural Americans.'

U.S. Postal Service history dates back to 1775. Its goal
was to deliver mail. (Photo by Joel Moysuh, Unsplash)

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy deployed plans to make the U.S. Postal Service profitable. But turning a profit isn't the point of mail delivery, write Tribune Phonograph editorial members Kris O’Leary and Brian Wilson. Service is the heart of the USPS, and its lack significantly impacts rural areas.

"The U.S Postal Service should focus on delivering the mail, not delivering a profit," they write. "Privatization of the postal service has been a dream for some who see the opportunity for profit, but it would be a nightmare for rural Americans who would see service cuts, additional delays and increasing costs. These would disproportionally impact rural residents simply due to the economics of having fewer potential customers over a wider area."

In many business ventures, privatization "can be a wonderful thing. . . . . It can bring about innovation. . . and the adoption of new efficiencies," O'Leary and Wilson add. "In a recent interview, President-elect Donald Trump broached the idea of revisiting privatization of the postal service as a potential goal. . . . Trump’s comments come at the same time that Postal Service leadership is under increased bipartisan scrutiny for spiraling increases in rates and ever-diminishing service standards."

In a December congressional hearing, members berated DeJoy for failing to meet service benchmarks and repeated upgrade delays. "Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, a Republican, lambasted DeJoy," the editorial board writes, "leading to DeJoy covering his ears during the hearing." DeJoy defended his optimization strategies and said lawmaker interference could "end" the Postal Service.

However, profit-margin goals have little to do with the Postal Service's actual purpose. O'Leary and Wilson write, "DeJoy and other postal leadership have lost sight, if they ever had it, of the service that is at the core of the Postal Service. If DeJoy’s version of operational leadership and strategy were applied to highways, we would see interstates being turned into gravel roads."

If the U.S. postal service is privatized, its goal will become profits above all. "It will funnel off large city metro areas that can make money and drop rural areas that cover more land miles than people," O'Leary and Wilson add. "This is most of the U.S. population not living on either population-dense coast. The Midwest could lose any mail or package service if this becomes a reality. . ."

Senate committee members and Postmaster General clash over postal changes; some could impact rural delivery

Sen. Josh Hawley, 'hates' Dejoy's
plan and vowed to try and 'kill it.'

Tempers flared as the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy wrangled over the U.S. Postal Service's lagging delivery, expenses and DeJoy's overall postal "optimization" plan, reports Eric Katz of Route Fifty. "DeJoy vehemently defended his efforts and said the senators standing in his way would bring about the end of the Postal Service."

The bipartisan pushback put DeJoy on the defensive and highlighted internal conflicts between DeJoy and Congress. "Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., became angry with DeJoy when discussing his plan to slow down delivery for some mail, which is expected to disproportionately impact rural areas," Katz writes. "Hawley said, 'I hate this plan and I’m going to do everything I can to kill it.' The senator raised his voice and said he was no longer interested in being nice to DeJoy, was growing tired of his initiatives, and had 'waited and waited and waited' for improved performance."

After prickly exchanges about who or what would "go down with the ship," Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chairs the committee, "said he will follow up with the Postal Regulatory Commission on its review of DeJoy’s changes, which is due out in January," Katz explains. "Its findings are non-binding, and Peters said he will demand answers if postal management ignores the commission’s recommendations.

Several lawmakers criticized DeJoy's 'Regional Transportation Optimization' plan that "will require mail to sit overnight at post offices instead of being collected each evening for transportation to a processing center," Katz reports. "USPS paused those efforts in the run up to the election and its annual holiday busy season, but has vowed to resume them early next year."

Committee members zeroed in on USPS 2025 delivery targets, which were reduced, leaving next year's goals less robust than those from 2024. "For example, it expects to deliver regular cards and letters slated for two-day delivery on time just 87% of the time in fiscal 2025 compared to its goal of 93% in fiscal 2024," Katz adds. "The Postal Service also recently announced its intention to deliver some mail more slowly."

Jon Ossoff, D-Ga, asked "why Georgia is currently only seeing 75% of mail delivered on time, despite a promise this spring that USPS would be 'where we need to be' within 60 days," Katz reports. "DeJoy said the current performance level would remain as is for the foreseeable future. . . . Ossoff made clear he did not think DeJoy was doing enough and when the postmaster general said his attacks were becoming personal, the senator countered that he was reflecting the concerns of his constituents."

Quick hits: Small-town murder mysteries; slower mail for rural residents; a new hearing aid; Halloween night skies

Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk star in the new Global/FOX series 'Murder in a Small Town.' (Global TVvia IMDb photo/The Daily Yonder)

There's nothing quite like small-town murder tales to get people glued to their television screens week after week. "The latest TV series on FOX puts its own spin on a genre that has stood the test of time," reports Keith Roysdon of The Daily Yonder. "We haven’t yet reached the point where it’s become obvious that something is very, very wrong in the town of Gibsons . . . . 'Murder in a Small Town' is good, dependable murder-of-the-week television, probably not dissimilar to how 'Murder, She Wrote' was perceived for most of its run."

In Lancaster County, Penn., Democrats see an opportunity even though the county typically votes Republican, "the demographics are shifting here and throughout the state," report Campbell Robertson and Robert Gebeloff of The New York Times. "Pennsylvania is arguably the most pivotal state in the election, carrying 19 electoral votes, the most of the so-called swing states. After voting for the Democrat in every presidential election going back to 1992, the state went for Donald J. Trump in 2016 by less than a percentage point. Joe Biden won in 2020, by a little over a percentage point."

Jim and Sharon Erwin enjoy the natural beauty of
 Gunnison, Colo. (Photo by Jim Erwin via WSJ)

As baby boomers head into retirement, some choose to resettle in rural places for reasons that range from cutting costs to living closer to natural attractions. "The move to remote mountain and lake areas is helping reverse a long decline in the rural population. From April 2020 to July 2023, the rural counties retirees flocked to grew 4% versus less than 1% for rural America as a whole," report Anne Tergesen and Veronica Dagher of The Wall Street Journal. 

If slower is cheaper, is that OK? That depends. "The U.S. Postal Service is moving forward with a plan to slow down delivery for a relatively small portion of mail, telling its regulator the changes would save nearly $4 billion annually and better reflect the evolving nature of mail usage," reports Eric Katz of Route Fifty. Advocates for rural residents say the change will disproportionately affect mail delivery and pickup in more remote areas. Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder reports, "The plan would eliminate evening mail pickup in rural and remote areas, which could affect delivery times for areas that are more than 50 miles from a large USPS regional processing facility."

Apple's AirPods Pro 2 with hearing aid feature
(Apple photo via Wired)

Over-the-counter hearing aids seemed like a "cheaper and more accessible [solution] for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Instead, people are returning them at high rates," reports Julie Jargon of The Wall Street Journal. "Doctors lauded the move as a solution for over 20 million American adults who have hearing loss that isn’t severe enough to warrant expensive prescription devices. In reality, many go for $1,500 to $2,000 . . . . The struggles come as Apple prepares to release a potential game-changer — a software update that will turn its popular, $249 AirPods Pro 2 into hearing aids."

This year's spooky season will be topped off by rarely-seen cosmic visitors. "In the days leading up to Halloween, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, also known as Comet C/2023 A3, will be at its brightest, and likely visible to the naked eye. . . just look to the western sky shortly after sunset. As the days pass, the comet will get fainter and move to a higher part of the sky," reports James Wray for The Conversation. "The second comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), should be visible around the end of October. The comet will pass closest to Earth on Oct. 24 – look low in the eastern sky just before sunrise. Then, after swinging around the Sun, the comet may reappear in the western night sky right around Halloween."

More than 200 newspapers complain about U.S. Postal Service's poor mail delivery and escalating costs

The following report is from John Galer, chair of the National Newspaper Association and publisher of The Journal-News in Hillsboro, Illinois.

On June 28, the National Newspaper Association delivered letters from more than 200 newspaper titles to the Postal Regulatory Commission, complaining about inadequate mail delivery and escalating postage rates.

The comments were part of a review by the PRC of its postal rate regulations, which it is required by Congress to do periodically. The commission last completed a rate review in 2021 at which time it gave the U.S. Postal Service authority to raise postage rates beyond inflation levels. The result for community newspapers has been an increase by 35-50 percent in postage costs in the past four years.

The PRC announced earlier this year, following widespread complaints by mail users, that it would initiate a new inquiry on its regulations. Its determination will set USPS’s legal authority to increase rates for at least five years.

NNA Chair John Galer, publisher of the Journal-News, Hillsboro, IL, asked NNA members and newspapers in state newspaper organizations to send him their thoughts on the impact of the past few years of postage increases.

Responses registered a state of alarm on the future of the industry, specific complaints about delivery failures, losses of subscribers and unresponsive local postal authorities when delivery was not properly executed. Galer included the letters in NNA’s comments to the commission. NNA is also working with mailing industry partners on more detailed comments on the mechanisms involved in the rate regulation, including one provision that allows USPS to increase rates more when mail volume declines, which many in the industry consider a reward for poor performance.

“NNA has met with the commission recently to explain our situation,” Galer said. “We needed the commissioners to understand that this situation cannot continue. The PRC is inclined to blame the Postmaster General for using every inch of rate authority that the commission extended. But it was the commission that laid the table for this disaster. With proper rate regulation, we would not be in the situation we now find ourselves in. Now, we have to be concerned not only for the future of our own newspapers but for the plummeting of mail volumes that threatens the very basis of universal mail service. It was not unusual this year to see complaints not only about late newspaper delivery but also about checks in the mail arriving slowly or not at all. Even first-class mail has become unreliable in many areas.”

Public comments are being accepted by the PRC until July 9.

Modernizing the U.S. Postal Service is a huge undertaking; troubles at new processing center highlights the obstacles

The U.S. Postal service was once focused on moving
flat letters vs. packages. (Adobe Stock photo)

The opening of a new U.S. Postal Service mail and package-processing center near Atlanta exemplifies how difficult it will be to modernize the national carriers' network and delivery services. "Signs of trouble appeared days after the opening," reports Ester Fung of The Wall Street Journal. "Packages piled up on conveyor belts. . . .Trucks lined up for hours outside waiting for space at the loading docks."

Appointed Postmaster Louis DeJoy has said the work is "'simple stuff,' but union leaders are pushing against a rush to implement plans, insufficient training and poor management from inexperienced supervisors," Fung explains. "Employees said the new sorting machines were overwhelmed by the volume of mail and packages. . . . Dozens of workers didn't show up, saying work reassignments went against longstanding job-bidding processes established in collective-bargaining agreements."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Postal Service has lost money in 16 out of the past 17 years. DeJoy's overarching $40 billion plan is to update processing centers, cut costs and gain a greater market share of package shipping to turn profits. Executing those changes has been a rough route. Fung reports, "It is overhauling its vast network of sorting centers and truck routes that had long been focused on moving flat letters. [The plan] includes outfitting sorting centers with new equipment, purchasing electric vehicles to replace aging trucks, and consolidating processes and facilities."

Internal restrictions often prevent the Postal Service from recovering losses compared to its competitors, which can change prices to meet their costs. The Postal Regulatory Commission "limits what the Postal Service can charge customers," Fung reports. The Postal Service is also burdened with "a costly mandate to deliver to every address." Carriers such as FedEx and the United Parcel Service don't face those obstacles to profitability.

Because of the 2024 elections, the Postal Service is under increasing pressure to prove it can efficiently and consistently deliver mail on time. "It has to ensure it can handle mail-in ballots for coming elections as well as negotiations for new contracts with several labor unions," Fung writes. "The Postal Service currently has around 640,000 workers and it wants more flexibility to reassign employees to other positions as it restructures its network." Union leaders are concerned too many changes will hurt customer service.

Opinion: Americans must weigh in on how poorly the U.S. Postal Service is run before it's too late

The Postal Service boasts a 'jaw-dropping' 77% approval
rating. (Photo by Victória Kubiaki, Unsplash)

While Americans may not use the U.S. Postal Service as often as they did 20 years ago, it remains "a universally beloved federal agency. . . . second only to the Parks Service in public favorability (a jaw-dropping 77% approval rating, per Gallup ), writes Vishal Shankar in his opinion essay for Common Dreams, "The Public Has a Right to Know Every Detail of Louis DeJoy's Destructive Agenda." The Postal Service is arguably also the most frequently-interacted-with component of the federal government: packages and letters are delivered to Americans' mailboxes six days per week. But many of the Postal Service operations are changing under DeJoy, and critics say his leadership has led to slower delivery, significant price increases and less accountability. With a Postal Board of Governors as the only body that can censor or fire DeJoy, the public must stand up for what they hold dear, according to Shankar. "The future of the people's most treasured public institution depends on public participation and feedback." 

At a time when public trust in government is at near historic lows, the Board and Dejoy have worked to restrict public access to comment or meeting participation. "At least four times per year, the Board "holds an open session meeting, its sole formal contact with the public. In recent years, these meetings have concluded with a well-attended public comment period, where in-person and virtual attendees have excoriated DeJoy for embracing a privatization-friendly agenda," Shankar explains. "Just this year alone, public commenters at Board meetings have decried the mail slowdowns and price hikes, demanded changes to DeJoy's gas-guzzling and union-busting fleet plan, raised serious concerns about transparency of DeJoy's facility consolidation plans, and pushed DeJoy to expand community services offered at the post office."

But in its last open session meeting in November, the Board banned public attendance and comments without explaining why. "This abrupt new barrier to public accessibility led the number of public commenters – which in recent meetings has been a double-digit tally – to drop to 4," Shankar adds. "The decline in attendance was also likely compounded by an unexplained shift in the meeting time: whereas past meetings have been held at 4:00 pm ET, Tuesday's session was held at noon – the middle of the workday."

The Board began suppressing public input before this November's meeting. "At the August 2023 meeting, each public commenter was allotted only 25 seconds to speak, in sharp contrast to the typical 3-minute time limit," Sharkar notes." But next year, the Postal Board's accountability problem will worsen. Postal Board Deputy Secretary Lucy Trout explained that starting next year, the Postal Board will only hear public comments once per year in November. In other words, though the next three Postal Board meetings (February, May, and August 2024) are ostensibly 'public sessions," members of the public will have no opportunity to inform the Postal Board about their concerns until a year from now."

The Postal Board needs to drop its suppressive tactics and "reverse course by allowing both in-person and virtual public comments at all open sessions next year, and take further steps to improve accountability by responding to public comments and posting recorded comment sessions to the USPS website," Sharkar writes. "Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration must publicly call out this shameful barrier to transparent government and fast-track filling Postal Board seats with anti-DeJoy, pro-accountability reformers. . . .The future of the people's most treasured public institution depends on public participation and feedback – that's how public service works."

To read a detailed account of USPS history under DeJoy's leadership and ideas on how to engage with the Postal Service, click here.

Many small post offices are struggling with mail delays, in part because of delivering Amazon packages

A postal worker loads Amazon packages for delivery to
rural areas. (Photo by Dan Koeck, The Washington Post)

It's not the most wonderful time of year for some small post offices facing multiple mail delays when stacks of Amazon packages get delivery priority. "When Delbert Mikelson's mail started showing up late — and sometimes not showing up at all — he blamed it on the opening of deer season," report Caroline O'Donovan and Jacob Bogage of The Washington Post. "But it wasn't the buck hunt delaying the mail in Bemidji, Minnesota, a small town 100 miles south of the Canadian border. . . . Since early November, Bemidji has been bombarded by a sudden onslaught of Amazon packages — and local postal workers say they have been ordered to deliver those packages first."

Shouldn't first-class mail be delivered first? Not necessarily. "The U.S. Postal Service has had a contract with Amazon since 2013, when it started delivering packages on Sundays," the Post reports. "But in recent years, that business has exploded as Amazon has increasingly come to rely on postal carriers to make 'last-mile' deliveries in harder-to-reach rural locations."

In Bemidji, "chaos has ensued," with packages stacked so high the town's fire marshal tried to intervene. Meanwhile, the town's regular mail routes are neglected, leaving residents waiting for "checks, credit card statements, health insurance documents, and tax rebates," O'Donovan and Bogage write. "Routes meant to take eight or nine hours are stretching to 10 or 12. At least five carriers have quit. . . ." One Bemidji post office employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect her job, told the Post, "If we keep getting this volume. . . .We won't survive. We aren't equipped for this."

The Bemidji post office is one of many facing challenging piles of Amazon packages. "Carriers and local officials say mail service has been disrupted in rural communities from Portland, Maine, to Washington state's San Juan Islands," the Post reports. Bemidj's mayor "has complained to local members of Congress, who say their ability to control the post office is limited. Last week, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis) DeJoy to ask about reports that 'Amazon is interfering with timely deliveries and stretching the agency's already-overburdened workers too thin. . . . As Postmaster General, you are responsible for ensuring that the Postal Service meets its service standards, and it is clear right now that things are not working as they should. . . Entering into contracts that your system cannot support is a breach of your responsibilities.'"

Postal Service spokesperson David Partenheimer told the Post, "'Like any prudent business, we do not publicly discuss specifics of our business relationships.' . . . After this story was published, he added that the agency 'does not prioritize the delivery of packages from Amazon or other customers.'"

Postal Service plans 7.3% price increase for in-county newspaper delivery; NNA chair calls that rate 'punitive'

The U.S. Postal Service is proposing a 7.3 percent increase in the cost for newspapers to mail to in-county subscribers next year – a rate described as “punitive” by a representative of the National Newspaper Association.

The large increase for in-county mail, to take effect Jan. 21, is almost four times higher than proposed increases for other types of mail, including first-class delivery, according to an NNA press release.

The proposed increases come at a time when some daily newspapers are considering switching or have already switched from carrier delivery to the mail, including a recent announcement by three Gannett Co. papers in South Carolina that they would move to USPS delivery on Oct. 10.

“It certainly seems as if the Postal Service wants to discourage newspapers from using the mail,” said John Galer, chair of the NNA board and publisher of The Journal-News in Hillsboro, Illinois. “At a time when local journalism is already in peril and more newspapers are using the mail to reach subscribers, this increase is simply punitive.

“We expect both our subscribers and other stakeholders in our community to push back at the subscription increases that will be made necessary by the Postal Service’s action,” Galer said in the NNA release.

According to the NNA, proposed increases for other types of mail – including those used primarily by other competitors to newspapers – will be much smaller. Those average increases include 1.9 percent for first class and advertising mail, and 1.59 percent for mail delivered outside of a publishers’ home county, which is a rate used for some local newspaper subscriptions but also for national publications.

“Ironically, the Postal Service’s principal justification for the steep increase is that the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) now requires USPS to share more of the savings created when publishers do some of the work that postal workers would otherwise have to do, such as presorting the mail and transporting it to destination post offices,” NNA said.

“Raising our prices so it can claim it is creating a fair discount is the sort of math we associate with shady deals,” Galer said. “Our industry has been doing a lot of mail preparation work for years to help keep postal costs down. For us to now be punished for that work simply adds outrage to our disappointment.”

Steven Waldman, head of Rebuild Local News, said on LinkedIn, "Amidst a democracy-threatening crisis in local news, the federal government is now actively making the local news crisis worse. . . . Maybe the Postal Service doesn't want to listen to James Madison and George Washington (subsidize the press!), but at least don’t penalize it. The Founding Fathers believed subsidizing postal rates was crucial to building up the free press and therefore the Republic. Instead, the Postal Service actively undermines the press's survival."