Not that there was much choice, but today the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS's) Board of Governors announced it will not end Saturday mail delivery.

Earlier this year, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said he would end Saturday delivery in August. Congress last month passed government funding legislation that specifically barred the USPS from going to five-day delivery. But up until today’s announcement, the USPS hadn’t backed away from its plans.

I encourage transportation workers everywhere to support the Letter Carriers (NALC) this Sunday for its Day of Action to educate and mobilize Americans in support of continuing six-day mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s reckless, unilateral move to end Saturday delivery will disproportionately harm those who need it the most—our nation’s poor, elderly, people with disabilities and those in rural areas. It will hurt small business, cut jobs and send the USPS on a severe downward spiral.

You are probably hearing that the Post Office is "in crisis" and is cutting back Saturday delivery, laying people off, closing offices, etc. Like so many other "crises" imposed on us lately, there is a lot to the story that you are not hearing from the "mainstream" media. (Please click that link.) The story of the intentional destruction of the U.S. Postal Service is one more piece of the story of crisis-after-crisis, all manufactured to advance the strategic dismantling of our government and handing over the pieces to billionaires.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s plan to end Saturday mail delivery beginning Aug. 5 is a “disastrous idea that would have a profoundly negative effect on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and on millions of customers,” says Letter Carriers (NALC) President Fredric Rolando. Postal Workers (APWU) President Cliff Guffey says:

USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart.

After the Sunday afternoon service at Grace Temple Baptist Church in Tucson, Ariz., a crowd of more than 30 churchgoers filed into the adjacent hall for a voter education forum presented by the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s (APRI's) Southern Arizona chapter. The crowd was a mix of young voters and those who’d been voting since before the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed. It was a chance for everyone to learn the ins and outs of various ballot initiatives, as well as how and where they could vote early.

Kermit Oliver is a member of the Postal Workers (APWU) and lives and works in Waco, Texas. He works the overnight shift sorting mail, then goes home and spends the rest of his waking hours painting. Then, he gets up and does it all again. Many people have creative hobbies when they get home from work. Oliver, though, is different. He is the only American whose works have been used to create exclusive scarves for Hermès. They sell for $410 each and sell out within hours.

We've written before about the congressionally manufactured Postal Service "crisis," but this infographic from Delivering for America illustrates why a mandate to pre-fund 75 years of retirement in just 10 short years put the Postal Service under financial strain. Download the "The Truth About the Postal Service Finances" infographic. 

On the second day of a four-day hunger strike by postal workers and their allies in Washington, D.C., dozens marched from L’Enfant Plaza to the U.S. Treasury yesterday wearing bandit masks and carrying a $44 billion check from the Postal Service. Workers launched the hunger strike Monday, days ahead of a vote in Congress on the fate of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and are holding morning and afternoon vigils to bring attention to the need to save the Postal Service.

The battle over postal reform legislation now moves to the House of Representatives after the Senate yesterday passed (62-37) a bill (S. 1789) that postal union leaders called flawed. They vow to fight the House version (H.R. 2309) that is even more damaging to postal workers and the communities they serve.

More than 100,000 postal workers and their supporters called on their lawmakers to “Save America’s Postal Service” in demonstrations Thursday in more than 200 cities. Many actions took place outside the home offices of U.S. senators who are expected to vote next week on a bill (S. 1789) that could push tens of thousands of workers out of their jobs.