Members of postal unions in Chattanooga and their supporters did their part Monday in a nationwide event to rally support against turning mail delivery into a for-profit business.
On Monday, a couple of dozen people wearing T-shirts and waving "U.S. Mail Not For Sale" signs occupied Miller Park, across the street from the downtown post office branch in the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building.
They stood on the corners at M.L King and Market Street, handed out leaflets and chatted with strollers or bench-sitters. Afternoon commuters mostly just drove on by with their windows up, but every now and then a driver would wave or tap a friendly honk on horn.
President Donald Trump earlier this year said he believes privatizing the U.S. Postal Service could mean it would operate more efficiently and at lower cost.
The postal service lost $2.7 billion last year, continuing a trend, for reasons ranging from falling first-class and marketing mail volumes to the costs of operating a nationwide system of post offices and delivering mail six days a week to 150 million addresses. Supporters of privatization also cite union wages and benefits much richer than those offered in the private sector.
But postal workers, including National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers Union, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, say privatization would send costs soaring, especially in rural areas, and destroy a national institution created in the nation's infancy.
"People are going to pay more for their mail," said Michael Ramsey, retiree representative for the union and a mail carrier for 23 years.
"Right now the post office is nonprofit, we just try to break even. If you have privatization, they'll jack those stamp prices way up, and if you live way out in the country, they won't want to deliver to you because they can't make any money on it."
Laurie McLemore, national president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, carried a sign with the other marchers. McLemore has been driving a mail route in North Chattanooga for more than a decade.
"People have gotten away from the idea of service, and that's what we provide, universal service," McLemore said.
Added Judy Stocker, an electronics technician at the main postal processing facility on Shallowford Road: "It's always been here and people take it for granted that it's always going to be here but that's not necessarily true."
Resolutions are pending in the U.S. House and Senate stating that "Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization."
The House resolution has 223 co-sponsors as of Monday, including Democratic U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper of Nashville and Steve Cohen of Memphis. None of Tennessee's Republican congressional representatives has signed on as a co-sponsor.
The Senate resolution has 42 co-sponsors, none from Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.
Neither of the two U.S. Senate candidates in Tennessee, Democratic former governor Phil Bredesen and Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, responded to a request for their position on postal privatization Monday.
Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.