Preserving the People's Post Office
PRESERVING THE PEOPLE’S POST OFFICE Christopher W. Shaw Foreword by1 Ralph Nader PRESERVING THE PEOPLE’S POST OFFICE PRESERVING THE PEOPLE’S POST OFFICE By Christopher W. Shaw Foreword by Ralph Nader Essential Books, Washington, D.C. Acknowledgements Thank you Sam Bollier, Jonathan Brown, Marcia Carroll, Rob Cirincione, George Farah, Meghan Ferris, Stephanie Hilborn, Tim O’Carroll, Laura Rothrock, Todd Scriber, Katy Shaw, Marlene Thorpe, Lisa Wei, Robert Weissman, Barry Williams, and Mark Wittink for your helpful contributions. I am grateful to Raissa Howera for sharing her talent, to Jake Lewis for sharing his knowledge, to Ralph Nader for lending his commitment, conviction, and experience, and to John Richard for generously and patiently making available his expertise and insight. Published by: Essential Books P.O. Box 19405 Washington, DC 20036 Price: $25.00 Library of Congress Control Number: 2006932118 ISBN 978-1-893520-03-5 Printed in the United States of America Copyright © 2006 Essential Books All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system, without the writ- ten permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. To American postal workers and to my parents Table of Contents Prologue ix Foreword xi Introduction 1 The Post Office Department 7 Corporate Supremacists & the Postal Service 19 Where’s the Universal Service? 31 More Than a Book of Stamps 45 Delivering More 59 Corporate Mailers Demand More 69 Residential Patrons Get Less 87 The Universal Delivery Service 105 Handcuffing the Postal Service 121 Delivering Everyday Fair Wages 135 Post Office Potential 149 The Post Office Consumer Action Group 159 Postal Savings 171 Postal Restructurings 187 Global Postal “Brands”? 203 Endnotes 207 Prologue This is not a “small” book.
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