Devin Leonard

"The United States Postal Service is a wondrous American creation. Seven days a week, its army of 300,000 letter carriers delivers 513 million pieces of mail, forty percent of the world’s volume. It is far more efficient than any other mail service—."

"...A rich, multifaceted history, full of remarkable characters, from the stamp-collecting FDR, to the revolutionaries who challenged USPS’s monopoly on mail, to the renegade union members who brought the system—and the country—to a halt in the 1970s."

Of course, I have a biased connection to this historical and remarkable organization, since I have been a mail-carrier for over 32 years. I am still glad I read it and actually learned a lot, from this well-researched single volume. I salute Benjamin Franklin, our postal Godfather. The postal service also developed some game-changing technology over the years, that it rarely gets credit for. If you have any interest in the U.S.P.S or just curious what a mail-carrier does, day in, day out, give this book a shot. I also got a kick out of this new to me factoid:

"In February 1914, the Pierstorffs of Grangeville, Idaho, sent their five-year-old daughter to visit her grandmother 75 miles away in Lewiston via parcel post, because it was cheaper than buying her a train ticket. Little May Pierstorff weighed 48 pounds, which meant that she was just under the Post Office Department’s 50-pound limit for parcels. The Grangeville postmaster charged her parents 53 cents, attaching the appropriate stamps to the front of her coat. May traveled all the way to Lewiston in a railway baggage car under the watchful eye of a railway mail clerk. When she arrived, a mail clerk on duty drove her to her grandmother’s house rather than leaving her at the post office for morning delivery. Soon there were more incidents of “child mailing,” and finally the Post Office Department outlawed the practice.”… (más)

Neither Snow nor Rain is a great study of the history of the largest letter carrier and the second largest employer in the US, or rather, it is a great book about the history of the US, especially the federal government, through the lens of the US Postal Service. Having grown up in a country where mail delivery is not reliable and rarely safe, I was shocked to see the things Americans mail through their national mail system. Checks! Jewelry! Legal documents! All of that was baffling to me, and quickly, I was in awe of the USPS. Over the years, Americans have become increasingly disgruntled with the USPS, and I found it difficult to understand why such an institution had such a bad reputation, despite being still very reliable and honest. Devin Leonard's extremely well researched and well written book does an excellent job of explaining the turning points, the key players, and the difficulties the institution has faced in the past and still faces today. Beyond the obvious (that physical mail is being replaced by electronic mail) Leonard's research shows how the political forces within and without the federal government, private interests with big lobbies, the unions, and the determination to insist on a capitalist mentality have driven the USPS to some tight corners over the centuries.

Overall, the history of the postal system is fascinating, not only because it is such an important part of our daily lives today, but also because it was such a strong influence in shaping the way the US developed as a country (for example, how it shaped the airline industry.) The early worries that allowing black man to become mail carriers, which would enlighten them and lead them to rise up against their "masters" might sound awfully weird and outdated today, but seem very much a part of how the country was shaped from its very beginnings. Similarly, how the USPS seems behind the times with its slow adaptation to the digital age, while it was at the forefront of air mail delivery, mechanical sorting, handwriting recognition, and scanning, may seem puzzling, but as Leonard shows, the push and pull of politics, private competitors (FedEx, UPS, etc.), and the unions seems to have shaped the strange place the government giant finds itself today, wedded uncomfortably to Amazon.

Strangely, the story of the USPS seems like a familiar tale to me, another case of Americans wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. We want better mail delivery to everywhere (the largest, house delivery range in the world!), but we do not want a bigger USPS with more employees. We want USPS workers to earn well and retire well, but we do not want to pay for it ourselves (then who?) in a time when the two biggest money-makers for the USPS (junk mail and first class mail) are at a decline and will probably never come back. It seems like another case of wanting better service without having to pay for it, and another case of Americans lacking perspective, not having experiences other postals services where you never send anything important through the government mail service unless you are poor and you cannot afford the private carriers... For example, when some remote post offices were going to be closed to save USPS billions of dollars, of course the residents (who would still get daily deliveries) were unhappy, but I bet most of those residents were also "against big government." So do we want big government that has far reach and affordable prices for ALL, or do we want small government and limited, better service (with good salaries for postals workers and good retirement).

Over and over again, Leonard reports the dilemma that the USPS has: a government agency bent on serving all equally well or a capitalist company that has to turn a profit. It seems that having both, just due to the size of the country and the immense amount of consumerism and banking, seems unlikely to succeed.

Recommended for those who like history, Benjamin Franklin, Wells Fargo, children put through the mail, and Jennies.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for a free digital copy of this book in exchange of my honest review. A great non-fiction read that I immensely enjoyed!… (más)