Defend the post office

To The Eagle,

That old bit of wisdom that "you don't know how much you will miss something until it's gone" will almost certainly be the case if current proposals for the United States Postal Service are carried to fruition. Privatization of the USPS is a very real possibility.

The irony is that this will disproportionately hurt rural areas and small towns, the very places that have routinely voted overwhelmingly for conservative candidates whose mantra is to cut government spending and regulation power to nil in favor of business interests.

The brutal truth, folks, is that our rural areas do not, and never will, pencil out economically. Privatizing will certainly result in post office closures, fewer community jobs, poorer service, and higher prices. Don't be fooled.

Hamstrung by rules private interests don't face, the USPS can appear inefficient. This is by design. The same is true for credit unions, PUDs, and any entity outside the profit motive that the government promotes, including Social Security. There are pots of money here that investors salivate over.

The USPS is a hallmark of American life. If it can be so easily culled, what will happen next?

On Sunday, March 23, 2025, there will be rallies at post offices nation-wide to defend our great institution. Join your neighbors at Skamokawa, Grays River and Cathlamet with signs of protest lest we regret this moment in our history.

Steve Puddicombe

Grays River