Last updated on 2020-04-14
If coronavirus doesn’t kill you, Donald Trump’s strangulation of the U.S Postal Service could! Just ask West River blogger John Tsitrian, who told Marketplace about the challenges he faces getting his meds by mail:
Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump had been prepared to reject the $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus act if it contained a bailout for USPS. Instead, the postal service got a $10 billion loan, which is awaiting approval from the Treasury Department.
That could spell trouble for Americans living in rural areas. People like John Tsitrian, from the little town of Wall, South Dakota, known by locals as the “geographic center of nowhere.”
He gets his medication from the Veterans Administration hospital, through USPS.
He’s worried that if postal services come to a halt “it would require a 100 mile round trip. It would be quite expensive and time consuming.”
Companies like Amazon depend heavily on USPS. In rural areas, it takes care of the so-called “last mile” of the delivery. Tsitrian said that for a lot of Wall’s residents, courier services like FedEx and UPS could be too expensive [Jasmine Garsd, “Postal Service Could Come to a Halt by June as It Bleeds Cash,” Marketplace, 2020.04.13].
Do John, and rural America, and the democracy John fought for a favor: buy some stamps!
Me too.Vietnam vet with service connected disabilities.
The Roger Cornelius Memorial Cartoon by Marty Two Bulls
https://www.gocomics.com/m2bulls/2020/04/09
If the GOP kills the USPS it will be a huge blow to rural areas and West River will be especially troubled.
I hope Mindless Mnuchin okays the loan. In January our Democratic government can forgive the loans and put the USPS on fair footing with similar businesses so they can compete and continue providing their stellar services.
It will be one of dozens and dozens of things they’ll have to set right.
There is this place in Wall, called the Wall Drug Store, that might be able to help Mr. Tsitrian out.
All of my many meds come by mail from the VA. I also know many folks who are not veterans that get their meds by mail. In fact, most healthplans have mail order delivery as a less expensive way to take maintenance drugs. We, all of us, need the post office to remain open. What would make it more profitable would be to bring back postal banking. I remember it well and it worked well especially in rural areas.
What are Rounds and Thune thinking by wanting to get rid of the post office? How much will they rake in for this?
Thune and rounds take their orders from Mcconnell every puppet needs a master and McConell is their master.
Actually, I did a piece in my blog the day before the lady from NYC called, and the VA thing was more a sidebar to my main point that the postal service is part of the glue that holds rural South Dakotans together. She was focused on the practical aspects and made it all about convenience and expense. Kinda prosaic, but what the hey–it’s keeping the conversation going.
John T, The post office is indeed the glue that holds the communities together. In the small towns along the way, it is a place where news is discussed and is as important as the local coffee shop. You can pick up the periodicals there to see about announcements and sales. It’s the driving force of everything rural. You can find out how so and so is doing and if the operation was a success or when the funeral services will be and where.
When the baby chicks, or ducks and geese, the guinea, the watch dogs of the homestead, will be delivered for the chicken coop. All of that still is done through the mail, not as much now as when I was a kid, when the post office was literally buzzing with the boxes of new chicks ready for delivery.
So yes, the meds, the commerce, the mail, the lifeblood of independence has been on the chopping block for the last 40 years. Most of the reason is pure racial hatred because of the minority workers that are able to land a decent job, with health benefits and pensions. The rural folks don’t know about that, only the racial hatred of the ruling class know of it. Rural folks just want to get along with their lives and enjoy one another’s company while reading some news or seeing where the sales are.
This probably will not go over well…in an election year in particular. Democrats should seize on this in South Dakota to show how petty Rounds is to their rural needs.
Small town newspapers also depend on the USPS for distribution to subscribers. The Winner Advocate is like many small town papers, publishing on Wednesday. I received a gift subscription for Christmas and the latest issue is delivered to my apartment mailbox each Thursday.
I don’t know if they do doorstop delivery like the Madison Daily Leader as I don’t think they hire carriers. If that’s the case, then the USPS is the only way their paper reaches subscribers in and out of town.
One challenge for newspapers relying on the USPS is to deliver content that is worth reading a day or two late. That would suggest that local papers need to write more material like the in-depth reporting from South Dakota News Watch.
John Tsitrian’s very good blog post on the need to protect the Postal Service from Trump’s heedless destruction ends with a call to our members of Congress to stand up for rural South Dakota and stop Trump’s vendetta. Whose interests come first, John, Mike, and Dusty: South Dakota’s practical daily needs or Donald Trump’s ego-tripping desire to destroy?
Look what those crazy Indians have in their country. A system much like we used to have. Copycats prove that a system that was born here, with our country, needs to be nourished and revitalized to serve the needs of the people.
“”India has the largest postal service in the world – and now it is stepping in to help deliver lifesaving medicines during a countrywide lockdown aimed at tackling the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC’s Ayeshea Perera in Delhi reports.
Red postal vans are a familiar sight in India. They make thousands of journeys every day, criss-crossing the country’s wide network of post offices in 600,000 villages.
The postal service does much more than deliver letters and packages. It is also a bank, a pension fund and a primary savings instrument for millions of Indians. Now it will also be transporting medical equipment and drugs to where they are needed most, at a time when transport has come to a standstill.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52268601
Banish republican stink think and you get a system that works well for everyone.
postal workers are unionized, which the repubs don’t like. they were thinking of converting their vehicle fleet to electric and hydrogen powered, which the repubs don’t like. A provision passed by repubs during Bush II required them to fund a retirement fun 75 yrs into the future, for workers yet unborn. Big factor in their financial situation.
Bill is right about that 75 year pension advance. When the GOP couldn’t outright kill the USPS they got slimy about it, as is their wont. The point of 75 year plan, which the GOP claimed was them looking out for labor, 🤢 was simply a slow death. No other business anywhere is burdened with such a requirement.
Pure GOP skulduggery.
If T is able to cripple the USPS, how will “vote by mail” succeed? Has that been the “plan” all along for a “keep Pinocchio at the helm & in Power?” What a frightening thought…
Business Insider echoes John Tsitrian and Cory regarding Malevolent Moron’s hatred of the USPS.
is.gd/kuz4Iy
City Pages, a Minneapolis weekly tabloid, has a list of 5 tongue in cheek ways for you to help USPS. 😆😆
is.gd/yW52zV
Whose interests come first, John, Mike, and Dusty: South Dakota’s practical daily needs or Donald Trump’s ego-tripping desire to destroy?
drumpf is rumored to be convening Congress to vote to approve unqualified appointees.