Oh, boy! I’m not sure about all this commotion with the U.S. Post Office. I’m Kim Dunworthy and I keep hearing that the postal service needs to save money, big time. So those political types in our nation’s capitol (Washington, DC) are cutting back on the number of hours we can work. I don’t like that because when I work extra, I get paid overtime. I’ve been trying to save up to buy a car. Geesh.
And now, in another cost cutting move, they say we might not have as many mail boxes around town. That’s going to make it harder for some folks to drive up and mail a letter.
With all the changes I keep hearing about, I’m worried what it will mean to mail delivery here in Shady Pines. We’re a pretty small town. People are used to getting their mail on time.
I mean, we deliver more than letters. I’m proud to say we deliver medications to people who need them. With this pandemic and all, I have a lot of folks on my route who don’t want to risk their health to go to the pharmacy. And you know how much shopping everyone’s doing online these days.
Why, my truck is filled with packages I deliver every day. Then, there’s the census cards. You know, that’s the card you fill out and mail back saying where you live and who lives there with you. That’s how a community like ours gets the services they need. The money from the government we get is based on how many people live in a certain town or city.
And this year, because there’s a presidential election going on, there’s a lot of yammering about voting by mail. Some people think we can’t handle all those ballots in a timely fashion. Listen, if we can handle all the thousands of Christmas Cards we have to sort through and deliver every year, we can find a way to deal with people who are mailing in their votes.
I know there isn’t a lot I can do to change what somebody in Washington, DC decides to do. But there are things every citizen of Shady Pines and you can can do to help the Post Office.
How you can help
1) Buy stamps.
Most of the money that the Post Office receives is from first class mail. So, buy some stamps. Send some letters, or ramp up your involvement with a postcarding or letterwriting campaign! Here’s the link to buy stamps: USPS Store
2) Contact your Senators and Rep in Congress.
With the help from your parents, tell your representatives in Congress that you want them to support helping the Post Office through this rough patch. (Find their contact info HERE.) Try saying something like this:
Hello. I’m from [ZIP] and I’m calling to ask you to support emergency funding for the U.S. Postal Service to ensure delivery of crucial supplies and mailed election ballots. Can I count on you to support including direct funding in the next coronavirus relief bill? Thank you.
I strongly encourage you have your parents help you include a reason or two to make your request strong with an added punch. They could include the following:
- let’s keep the nearly 500,000 postal workers employed like me! (including a significant number of veterans)
- let’s make sure rural areas continue to have access to mail (like Shady Pines)
- we want to ensure that the roughly 1 million lifesaving medications that are shipped every year get to the intended recipients (source)
- we want to make sure all of our military personnel – especially overseas – have continued mail service (as private services such as UPS and FedEx cannot deliver for security reasons)
- it would be irresponsible to let the Post Office fail becuase it would hurt both the Census and the November elections
- you believe that everyone, no matter where they live, should get the same access to a valuable line of communication that the Post Offfice provides.
I’ll keep doing my part to make sure your mail gets delivered on time. After all, I’m known as “Keep It Moving” Kim Dunworthy. Now you need to do your part. Let’s make sure you can always rely on the Postal Service. You know what we postal workers always say:
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
***Please leave a comment below
Even the post office in Shady Pines is having trouble? This site is such a good way to bring topics to kids in a way they can understand.
I wish I lived in Shady Pines.
Shady Pines is certainly on the pulse, isn’t it? The story of what’s going on and how’s it affecting the postal service is really disturbing.
At this point, I have no idea how I want to vote in the election.
Leave it to Shady Pines to try and help the post office. Somebody needs to that’s for sure.
I really like the way you use these characters to talk about issues happening now. It gives me a way to explain it to my son. Thank you.
I cannot believe this is happening to the post office in an election year. Tell Kim I’m following her 2-part advice.
Don’t mess with the post office. I’m with you Kim. I’ve been waiting on a package that was supposed to have been here two days ago. So, I guess it is impacting me.
This post office situation is a mess. My husband relies on medication he gets by mail. He has been waiting four days past when they were suppose to arrive. I’m going out to buy stamps right now.
This is really good. I like that you have a call to action so we can show our kids they can do something about an issue.
I love Kim Dunworthy. Is this character new? Very timely message