And, by one account, we are also more efficient. The EMA Foundation’s Institute of Postal Studies recently updated its Mailing Industry Job Study. It shows that the U.S. mailing industry provides jobs for 8.4 million Americans. This is 6 percent of the nation’s jobs. The industry generates $1.3 trillion of sales revenue and accounts for more than 8.6 percent of GDP.

The oil and natural gas industry generates $1.1 trillion in revenue, and the airline industry generates $1.0 trillion. How are we more efficient? Both of these industries require more jobs to generate their revenue. The oil and gas industry has 9.6 million jobs, and the airline industry has 10 million jobs.

Private industry accounts for 92 percent of the mailing industry jobs, with the U.S. Postal Service making up the remaining 8 percent. More than 76 percent of the private industry jobs depend on the delivery infrastructure of the USPS.

The mailing industry is the backbone of the American economy and requires a healthy Postal Service. The Postal Service has serious problems, but these can be fixed. Unfortunately, this requires the politicians in Washington D.C. to get off their rear ends and stop playing politics with the lives of 8.4 million Americans. Do they think they are capable of doing that?