Photo by Joel Moysuh on Unsplash
On December 12th, I mailed a batch of about 20 2026 Anglotopia Calendars to my customers. I printed the labels with my shipping software, I carefully packed them in non-bend mailers, put them in my mailbox, and they were picked up by my mailman by the end of the day. I was quite proud that I managed to get them all out with plenty of time for Christmas and New Year’s. My customers would be happy, and so would I. I didn’t think about them again. Until the emails started to come in during Christmas break.
None of those 20 calendars ever reached their destination.
Not a single one.
The tracking information shows each one going through the postal network, and then, they just completely disappear. Never to be seen again.
My customers were understandably upset not to get their calendars in time for New Year’s, and I was upset. Upset, because I’d paid full price for the USPS to fulfill a service for me, they did not, and I have absolutely no recourse or ability to get my money back. In fact, it’s cost me money, as I’ve had to send replacement calendars to every single customer (via a different method, of course).
This is just the tip of the iceberg for a terrible year I’ve had with the USPS. Something is terribly broken at the United States Postal Service, and I feel like no one is talking about it.
My whole life, it seems, has somehow managed to revolve around the post office. Growing up, I was on a first-name basis with my maillady in Ogden Dunes, Indiana. I collected stamps (I still have my collection). I loved getting mail, and I loved the expectation of waiting for packages. When I was a teenager, and a little website called eBay started, I started a thriving little business selling things online. I quickly gained tons of experience working with the USPS. I’ve shipped with them for 30 years. Through my business Anglotopia, I have sent, quite literally, tens of thousands of packages, all from my house. I understand how the system works. At least, I used to.
I have nothing but the utmost admiration for the United States Postal Service. I’ve even read books about its history. It’s a fascinating pillar of United States history that many people simply don’t think about, except to complain. The truth is, modern America would not exist without the USPS and the logistics network it has set up for the public benefit (and that’s key, because 80% of addresses in the US would not be profitable to deliver anything to – the USPS is a Public Service Obligation).
There have been forces that have wanted to destroy the USPS for decades, but they never really seemed to make any headway at all. Administrations would come and go, but the USPS would endure, packages would still get delivered, mail would still arrive, and junk mail would still pile up. You could count on the USPS to never change.
But in the last year, something appears to have changed, as if a time bomb has finally gone off. I’ve noticed this as a business owner, and I’ve noticed this as a regular customer.
I’m kind of old school. I like print magazines. I’m a subscriber to two: The New Yorker and The Economist. They are weekly magazines. For years, when you were a subscriber, you would get the week’s new issue like clockwork, the same week it was printed. Not anymore. Yesterday, for example, I received two issues of the Economist from different weeks. In late December, I received an issue of the New Yorker from early November (after receiving the subsequent issues already). I waited weeks for my beloved Economist Christmas double issue to arrive late. Last week, an issue of the New Yorker arrived with the cover 90% ripped off. I’m amazed it arrived at all!
When you mailed an important letter locally, you could rely on it to arrive the next day. Now, when you mail something locally, it leaves the area completely, gets sorted in another state, and then returns several days later. When you’re expecting a package, USPS package tracking used to be a reliable indicator of where the package actually was and when it would arrive. Now, it’s just an educated guess. Where are those calendars from December? Nobody knows. Logic would dictate that if there was a problem with them, they would have been returned to me. They have not. They’re still floating around the USPS sorting system, somewhere. Anywhere but where they’re supposed to be. Nearly two months later, so sign of them, whatsoever (meanwhile, the replacements have all arrived).
Postal rates have gone up. One of the most important rates for a small business like mine, which ships lots of books, is media mail. It lets you ship a book at a lower rate than it would ship at for higher weight classes of mail. This is a lifesaver as books can be quite heavy. So, instead of it costing, say, $12 to mail a book to California from Indiana, it used to cost $3.00. In the days of Amazon pricing and free shipping, this allows you to be somewhat competitive. Now, it’s almost $6 to mail a book. I cannot tell you how many complaint emails I’ve gotten from people about how much I charge to ship books now.
I’ve noticed the service decline on the ‘front-end’ as well. I used to be on a first-name basis with my mail carrier, and they understood my business (and did their best to provide good customer service). Not anymore, it changes so often. Delivery is spotty. Some days, the mail comes around lunchtime. Some days, the mail comes at 9 pm. Some days, the mail isn’t delivered at all. And it’s almost never the same person every day.
When we had to renew my daughter’s passport earlier this year, we took her with us to the Post Office and were confronted with a ghost town. We had an appointment. When we arrived, the only cashier at the desk was the employee we had an appointment with. This was the morning rush. A passport application is involved, especially when you need a picture, so there was a long line of audibly impatient and pissed off people that we were holding up the line (they didn’t care we’d booked an appointment for this!). The employee helping us did his best, but it was clear he was powerless to fix the situation. People were left pissed off. It was uncomfortable!
What I’m confused about, and maybe someone who knows more about this, can educate me. Everyone howled when Donald Trump appointed Louis DeJoy as the head of the USPS. How dare they employ a private freight greedy CEO as the head of a public service? Well, Joe Biden had FOUR YEARS to remove him, and never bothered with it. The USPS continued on, seemingly as normal. But then, Trump was returned to office, and suddenly, since January 2025, service has noticeably gotten substantially worse. Were all of DeJoy’s reforms on some kind of time bomb to go off only when a Republican was in office? As an aside, DeJoy announced he was leaving as head of the USPS, job done destroying it, I guess. Time to profit off the fallout.
I’m pleading with my fellow citizens, please do not let ‘them’ destroy the USPS. This country needs it. Package delivery firms like FedEx and UPS simply cannot compete because they do not have a universal service obligation. As a business owner whose customers are already sensitive to price, I cannot afford to ship with UPS and FedEx. It would cost $15-$20 to ship a book or a box of tea. I’d have to pay them to pick up deliveries at my house, when the USPS comes here EVERY DAY. My customers won’t pay it, and neither will I. Americans have taken the USPS completely for granted, and when these things are destroyed, we will never, ever get them back.