Who will rescue the U.S. Postal Service?

More than 1,200 technology, business, and consumer groups are working together to try and help the U.S. Postal Service, which has been under attack by President Trump on Twitter, and has been hard-hit by the coronavirus crisis.

COVID-19 has now killed more than 61,000 Americans, and efforts to slow the outbreak have resulted in a partial economic shutdown, and a dramatic reduction in U.S. Postal Service income.

The coalition to save the USPS includes members as diverse as the Package Coalition, whose members include Amazon.com, and small town newspapers.

The group sent a letter to Congress on Thursday urging support for USPS, which was already having a hard time before the pandemic slashed its revenues, and before Trump began trashing the American institution repeatedly on Twitter.

It is of particularly acute need in rural areas of the country, where there are no alternatives, and often not even broadband," the letter said.

From Reuters:

The leader urged House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to provide enough funding to enable USPS to survive and serve its customers, the American people, during this exceptionally trying time."

The Postal Service has said that it may not be able to continue service past September without help. The U.S. Congress authorized the Treasury Department to lend it up to $10 billion as part of an earlier $2.3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package but that funding is in question.

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In addition to the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service and the Package Coalition, the letter was signed by the American Catalog Mailers Association, Consumer Action, the National Retail Federation and a long list of rural and small town publications like the Ely Echo in Minnesota near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Read more:
Tech, business and consumer groups urge aid to COVID 19-hit U.S. Postal Service