The United States Postal Service is on the brink of collapse. The White House has so far rejected any attempt at a bailout for the Postal Service, and sources told the Washington Post that the President threatened to veto the $2 trillion dollar CARES Act if it included relief for the agency.
The impacts of the USPS shuttering could send shockwaves through the coffee industry, most especially for small roasters, many of whom rely on their inexpensive, flat-rate services (compared to private companies like UPS and FedEx).
Coffee industry veterans have taken to social media to voice their despair towards the situation. Writing on Facebook, Mother Tongue Coffee Roasters and 2019 US Cup Tasters Champion Jen Apodaca says “When USPS fails, so will the only functioning part left of my business.”
“USPS provides the fastest and most economical service to residential homes for packages under 10lbs,” Apodaca explains, “for every business that runs a subscription service, it is crucial. Even larger companies that send thousands of packages use USPS consolidating services.ย The absence of USPS would mean that every order will now pay 2x the shipping fee and will take 2x the time for deliveries.”
Saving the USPS is another way to support coffee in these trying and bizarre times. Fortunately, there is a cogent, actionable solution for this problem being offered by [checks notes] Bill Prady, the Executive Producer of now-departed comfortingly milquetoast CBS scripted comedy The Big Bang Theory.
Whatever your taste in sitcoms, hear him out:
Letโs break down how #BuySomeStamps #buystamps works.
1. Trump hates the USPS and wants it to die.
2. The post office is in a crisis.
3. If every adult bought a sheet of stamps thatโs $2.3 billion
4. DONโT USE THEM NOW โ itโs a loan!
5. Use them when the USPS is ok.
— Bill Prady (@billprady) April 12, 2020
Here’s a couple of steps you can take:
Buy stamps. Click here to buy stamps.ย
Contact your representatives and tell them that millions of Americans rely on the USPS to support their small businesses, including in the coffee sector.
“Right now all of my business to business sales have been completely decimated,” Apodaca told Sprudge. “Until that business returns, I only have my subscription service to carry me through the storm.”
Help save the USPS, and you will be helping support countless coffee small businesses along the way.
