U.S. Postal Service tries to survive in new era

Charles Kent, a Rural Free Delivery carrier for Route 7, prepares to take mail to northwest Ohio's rural families in this undated photo. The Rural Free Delivery system revolutionized postal service for farm families, allowing delivery of "every man's mail to every man's door." TOLEDO BLADE FILE PHOTO Enlarge

It’s an article of faith that this country has relied on — and perhaps taken for granted — since the first days of the nation:

The U.S. Postal Service will deliver whatever you want to send, wherever you want it to go.

Six days a week, year after year, our bills, birthday cards, letters, Christmas cards, care packages, and more flow through the postal service, which pledged at its formation in the 1700s to deliver the mail that last mile, whether it’s the Alaskan wilderness or an isolated Indian reservation.

PHOTO GALLERY: Historical images of Toledo mail service

In the early days, horses hauled the packages and letters across the frontier, taking months to reach their destination. Then it was carried on the rails, which in the 1950s meant 49 mail-carrying trains rolling in and out of Toledo each day. Now planes and 18-wheelers deliver billions of tons of everything from important financial statements to infernal junk mail to our homes.

It’s a system that is in serious jeopardy, thanks to changing technology and stubborn economic inefficiencies that have been present almost since its inception.

The federal government is trying to close a $14 billion budget gap by laying off tens of thousands of workers, closing rural and urban offices, and ending delivery on Saturdays. The dilemma of delivering "snail mail" is perplexing in a world where most folks communicate instantaneously via texting and email, where bills can be paid online, and where it seems as though only people older than 70 send cards or letters.

Postal worker Rolando Buno delivers mail in the rain Arpil 19, 2011, along Heatherdowns Boulevard in Toledo. Bruno has braved the elements to deliver mail for 17 years. THE BLADE Enlarge | Photo Reprints

When a public meeting was held recently at the Stranahan Theater to discuss changes that include shuttering the Toledo mail processing facility — along with closing five city post offices and several in northwest Ohio — more than 500 residents showed up to express their outrage. They included union members trying to protect the 400 people who are employed at the facility and others who on a more visceral level object to a change in lifestyle.

In the nearly two and a half centuries since it was created, with Benjamin Franklin as the country’s first postmaster general, the U.S. Postal Service came to represent stability and a sense of permanence.

Now that is in danger and once again progress is chipping away at something that we loved to complain about — grousing when the cost of stamps went up a few pennies, snickering about someone "going postal" when they had a temper tantrum at work, complaining that a letter was a few days late — but valued nevertheless.

The small town post office could be headed for the same cultural graveyard as the family-owned hardware store, village pharmacy, or corner grocery. And it’s hard not to feel like we’re losing a connection to our past that kept us rooted in simpler times when things didn’t move quite so fast.

Contact Rod Lockwood at: rlockwood@theblade.com or 419-724-6159.