Where We Live: Post Office Politics

Ben Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General in 1775. More than 230 years later, the United States Postal Service isn’t doing as well as Franklin probably would have liked.

If you want to mail a letter, it may be more difficult than ever to find one of those blue mailboxes to drop it into. In the last 20 years, more than 200,000 of them have been removed. Let’s face it, many of us correspond by email and even our bills can be paid online.

The Postal Regulatory Commission started hearings on a proposal to help the struggling agency, including a controversial stoppage of Saturday mail delivery.

That proposal has drawn criticism from some, but others think it might be necessary. Today, Where We Live, we’ll be talking about the state of post offices and their future.

Does the postal service still serve a purpose? How – and how often - do you use it?

This program was produced by Tucker Ives.