Complete Story
03/19/2020
United States Postal Service
Postal Reform & USPS Relief
As you can imagine, a multitude of industries are seeking to attach legislative priorities to these economic stimulus bills. One pitch PIA (and postal union allies) are strongly making to Congressional leadership is relief for USPS as it is an “essential service/business” during this national emergency. Clearly, USPS is critical as pharmaceutical prescriptions (pre-virus), government assistance checks, and even printed COVID-19 packets sent by the government to all addresses must be delivered. Package delivery demand is also increasing due to social distancing recommendations. Supplemental emergency appropriations to keep USPS functioning are needed. PIA supports this, but is also lobbying for inclusion of the following in Phase III or Phase IV: requiring the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to scrap its pending rate proposals and recalculate such based on influx of government funds, and attaching the House-passed/Senate-pending “USPS Fairness Act” that would repeal pre-pay requirements of retiree health benefits. It is vital not only for the country but for our industry that the USPS remains a strong, functioning delivery channel in this time of crisis and in a hopeful time of rebound.
Source: United States Postal Service, March 17, 2020
According to The World Health Organization, “the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.” And according to the CDC, “in general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets. Currently there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods.”
The United States Postal Service is closely monitoring the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation and continues to follow strategies and measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health departments. We are sharing the CDC’s guidance to our employees via stand-up talks, employee news articles, messages on bulletin boards, videos and an intranet site within USPS workplaces.
The CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Surgeon General have indicated that there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 is being spread through the mail.
The Postal Service has so far experienced only minor operational impacts in the United States as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We do continue to have a temporary suspension of the guarantee on Priority Mail Express International destined for China and Hong Kong, which has been effective since Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, due to widespread airline cancellations and restrictions into this area. In addition, customers may see delays in mail and packages destined to China as well as from China, as well as to and from European countries subject to restricted passenger airline travel. The Postal Service is undertaking all reasonable measures to minimize the impact to our customers.
