I will never forget this conversation with my grandmother: she vividly remembers three years ago when my sister sent her a beautiful card for her 88th birthday and it was two months late. As she states, the “address was perfect, in elegant printing, and the only message on the envelope was the information that it had been mis-delivered twice.” This moment has come up periodically in our phone calls and has resurfaced again ever since the threat to the U.S. Postal Service and the challenge of its delivery delays have been at an all-time high. Seniors are one of the main demographics, along with indigenous folks and rural residents, who are disproportionately impacted by this threat and even more so because of the coronavirus pandemic: “The coronavirus, which has decimated the global economy, has not spared the Postal Service—and while shipping and package volume are on the rise, standard and bulk mail have plummeted, leaving the U.S.P.S. with increasing deficits.” For seniors, who are at a high risk of contracting and developing the most severe effects of COVID-19, the mail is essential for their ability to vote and take part of a system that is supposed to serve them. However, with the issues surrounding the postal service and the pandemic, some seniors may be unable to vote or cast it safely. Even when elders, specifically those in an assisted living facility and separated from the help of their children or grandchildren, have to rely on the postal service to do their part. In a more recent phone call with my grandmother, we talked all about this. She has always been civically active and for this year’s election, she is encouraging people in swing states to vote while also supporting the postal service. She volunteered to send 200 cards with handwritten messages on all of them, and as her contribution, has “bought 200 thirty-five cent postcard stamps and stamped the cards.” The postal service allows for her to remain civically engaged even while a pandemic is going on. But, as she pointed out, with its delays, her efforts may be thwarted. Beyond voting, there are other issues at stake that particularly impact older folks: “‘People also depend on it for retirement checks, their Social Security, [and]...to get medication through the mail.’” This is no small impact. The Social Security Administration mails each year “about 15 million paper statements to those age 60 and older who do not receive Social Security benefits and do not have an online my Social Security account,” and “more than half the people who get their medicine delivered are over the age of 65.” While the impact of losing access to the U.S. Postal Service may seem small for younger generations, individuals more accustomed to online communication, it is just another stressor for elders already dealing with negative impacts from COVID-19 and the stress of new technology. Beyond that, the emotional tie to the U.S.P.S. only deepens these effects. As Jane Rohde’s mother states, it would be like losing a “long time, dependable friend.”
