Marco USPS Deserves to Be Saved

Could you imagine Marco Island without our post office? Seriously, every time I go I see the same friendly faces, pay an affordable rate whether a package or a letter, and always have a tracking code to follow. Our current FL House Rep. Bob Rommel recently wrote an article to the Naples Daily News in favor of holding back funding for the postal service because he thinks it should be run as a business instead of a service. What wasn’t mentioned was that up until 2006, the USPS had a surplus until Republican-led Congress mandated the USPS needed to pre-fund pensions 75 years in advance—no other company, private or public, has to do this. Consider this, if the postal service ran as a business, every price—from a letter to the gifts you send your grandkids for Christmas up north—would face a hike. Many small businesses depend on the USPS for the affordability. Defunding the postal service would also mean 500,000 people would risk losing their jobs and benefits, including the folks that work at the USPS here on Marco Island and Naples. USPS are gov employees and the majority of Americans support our postal service workers. Don’t be convinced that everything needs to be privatized and exist simply for greed and profit. 

Vanessa Grisko 

Marco Island