Many people need the post office | Letter

Published 10:34 am Friday, April 12, 2013

In a heartless and misinformed rant (“Who needs a post office?,” April 5 Reporter) Chris Starling reveals a profound ignorance of American post offices.

For more than two centuries, they have provided critically important services everywhere, as well as a necessary social hub for small-town America. Millions of us don’t share his scorn for an institution both valued and historic. But let’s put emotions aside.

For Starling, electronic payments and his apparent pride in neither writing nor receiving letters justifies ending the post office. Elderly America, including my parents, will not emulate him. In their few years left, they will not make electronic payments. They don’t get it. Importantly, they don’t trust them. They still write and receive letters. Seniors need the post office.

Rural America, with vast areas lacking this region’s high-speed networks, needs the post office.

Poor America, where home computing is an expensive dream and public networks unsuitable for personal finance, needs the post office.

The anti-government zealots are full of easy answers, yet empty of understanding and compassion. Starling’s sarcastic disdain for an inconvenient (for him) Constitutional duty of Congress “To establish Post Offices and Post Roads” (Article 1, Section 8) reveals the unwillingness of the anti-government crowd to comprehend the background and value of federal government services.

Jeff Hickey, Redmond