LETTERS: POSTAL WORKERS STRIVE TO GIVE THE BEST SERVICE

To the editor:

The U.S. Postal Service operates with zero tax dollars. What sets the Postal Service apart is that our business strives for service, not profit. Aside from our ever-expanding technological advances, our greatest resource is our workforce and its goal to be the best at what we do.

There are renewed talks of postal reform. The key issue is the misleading use of this term. The central focus is privatization. My chief concern is how the American public, our customers, are being left in the dark about how privatization affects them directly.

Privatization is a process of taking our effective, efficient and dependable service and dividing its service areas among private contractors or selling the entire service to a private company. A great percentage of our customers are rural residents. I can't foresee daily free delivery or collection service for these customers under privatization.

The postal worker is the driving force in keeping our standards of quality high. We take pride in our work. The Postal Service continues to be the cheapest, most efficient and most dependable way to send mail.

I have been a proud member of American Postal Workers Union Local 4088 since August 1998. Our local serves Cape Girardeau's main post office, processing and distribution facility, the Perryville and Jackson post offices and, above all, our customers. We have a great group of people in our membership who never lose sight that our customers are the key to remaining No. 1.

VERN DAVIDSON JR.

Solidarity Officer

American Postal Workers Union Local 4088

Scott City, Mo.