Recently, OK WASSUP! did a story on if we still need the postal service. That question may be answered sooner than most Americans think, as the post office could be going the way of the Pony Express.
The U.S. Postal Service is bleeding money, is gravely in debt and barely used nowadays with the Internet and email replacing what has come to be known as snail-mail. The USPS owes a $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30th to finance retirees’ future health coverage, or else it could conceivably shut down for good as soon as by the end of this year. But if that happens, will snail-mail really be missed?
The Obama administration seems to think so, as they are concocting a plan to extend the payback date by an additional 3 months in an attempt to spare the service. But is this just putting a band-aid on a gaping knife wound?
According to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe, even with a 3-month reprieve on the $5.5 billion payment, the post office will likely run out of cash and face a shutdown next July or August unless Congress passes legislation to provide a long-term solution. With the U.S. already scraping for dollars to salvage existing debt problems and find ways to get Americans back to work, how much of a priority is it to bailout a dying concept like the postal service?
Which begs the question: DO WE STILL NEED THE POST OFFICE?
