Letter to President Barack Obama & Leadership of the 111th Congress In Support of the Unites States Postal Service

President Barack Obama

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives

The Honorable Harry Reid, U. S. Senate Majority Leader 

The Honorable John Boehner, U. S. House Republican Leader

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, U. S. Senate Republican Leader

We the members of the Graphic Communications Industry respectfully but fervently request your leadership in addressing the current fiscal crisis facing the U. S. Postal Service, and the serious threat to its future sustainability. Specifically, we urge Congress to:

• Address the short-term crisis by enacting legislation before October 1, 2009 that will bring immediate budgetary relief to the U. S. Postal Service by restructuring its retiree health benefits payments at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, and to
• Promote a long-term solution to this crisis by encouraging development of a new business model to ensure the future viability of the U. S. Postal Service.

We urge these actions, because a strong and sustainable U. S. Postal Service is vital to the nation’s economy for the following reasons:

• The $800 billion plus mailing industry employees nearly 8.3 million American workers and comprises more than 8% of U. S. GDP;
• Millions of other American jobs and livelihoods depend on printed communications of all types, nearly 50% of which rely on the U. S. Postal Service for dissemination;
• Millions of these jobs stem from small entrepreneurial businesses already hard hit by the recession that rely heavily on advertising disseminated through the U. S. Mail. An insolvent Postal Service would accelerate volume loss and exacerbate the situation; and
• Unlike other delivery services, the U. S. Postal Service is mandated by law to provide universal service to every household in the United States, and in certain ways is also constrained by law from expanding the scope of its products and services, and from making its operations fully efficient and cost effective.   

Therefore, it is imperative that President Obama and the 111th Congress take the action urged by this letter without delay.