An Open Letter to GOP Lawmakers:
I know you’ve heard a lot by now about how we have to get rid of the USPS so you can keep your jobs but let me ask you how likely you are to stay in office if you further damage the economy?
Small businesses account for 99.9% of all businesses in the US, and many of them rely on the USPS to quickly and cheaply deliver goods and supplies. Without the USPS, many of them won’t survive because higher shipping costs will eat too much of their profit margins.
Do you really think you’re going to be popular if any significant percentage of 30.7 million businesses go under because of your policies? (Especially after many had to rely more heavily on shipping and curbside delivery after the Republican President and GOP Governors so disastrously handled a raging pandemic?)
Third-party sales on Amazon surpassed Amazon’s own sales on the site in 2018, making up 58% of the total physical gross merchandise sales. (That’s $160 billion, with a B, in gross merchandise sales.) Sure, some of them are based in China, but you want to tell the American small businesses you’re screwing them over to spite a handbag maker overseas?
Ebay’s net revenue in 2019 was $4.34 billion and almost all of it required shipping.
The cheapest way to ship goods remains the USPS. Most sellers can’t afford to use the private options and even private shippers rely on last-mile service from the USPS to get products, medicine, and other supplies to remote addresses or rural locations.
(Just as a reminder, GOP, you rely heavily on rural voters to keep your fat government paychecks and the power that delights you so. If they can’t get their medications and Nazi memorabilia because you destroyed the USPS, you think they’re going to be happy with your?)
I know many people like to make fun of Etsy and its sellers, but did you know 62% of all Etsy sellers n 2019 were based in the USA? That’s almost 1.6 million sellers. (Hey, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, 108,500 of them were based in Florida during 2019.) The most popular sales categories are jewelry, collectables, and “living arts.” Most of it is shipped using the USPS. Etsy had $3.93 billion in gross merchandise sales volume in 2018, and much of that remained in the US.
That’s just a few big sites aggregating sellers, but there are also thousands of small retailers that have shifted a large part of their business to delivery because they can’t open stores fully due to pandemic restrictions, the health and safety of their workers, or in an attempt to make up for lost local revenue as people have less disposable income or are less willing to browse in person.
Small retail businesses hire about 40% of all retail workers and each business averages more than $250,000 in revenue a year. If we just look at bookstores alone, there were 1887 independent (non-chain) bookstores in the US in 2019. Without media mail, shipping a book would cost more than the book itself. Used booksellers in brick an mortar settings as well as those online also rely almost exclusively on media mail for shipping and receiving.
This doesn’t even include the artists, MLM sellers, Instagram or Facebook sellers, vintage and thrift clothing sellers (either independently or on sites like Poshmark), the larger companies like StitchFix, independent online retailers, and others who rely on the services provided by the USPS to remain profitable.
I know going against Trump can be scary. He might say mean things about you. And every middle schooler knows that can be hurtful. But you’re grownups. You can afford therapists if you need someone to talk to. But Trump doesn’t rely on the USPS the way so many of your constituents do. His (and his children’s) products will still arrive on ships from China if the USPS fails. The voters who rely on the USPS for their businesses, their medications, and even just to send birthday cards to their grandkids aren’t going to think of you fondly if you take that service away from them.
You’ve already taken enough from the American people.
Save the USPS.
Non-GOP readers, feel free to print this and send it to your senator or representative. You can find their addresses (including email) here:
If, you live in NY or TX, you should know the percentage of Etsy sellers in your state (in 2019) is the same as FL. In CA, it was 14%.
If you want to buy stamps or snazzy merch, you can do so at:
You’ve already taken enough from the American people.
Save the USPS.
