In January, Dave Silver logged onto the U.S. Postal Service’s online portal for calculating postage for Priority Mail packages.
As president of the all-volunteer Operation Yellow Ribbon in southern New Jersey, Silver had tallied postage for thousands of care packages he had sent to servicemembers in Afghanistan and Iraq over the years.
But something was way off on this one.
“I hit enter, and all of sudden I’m looking at $60 postage instead of $30 or so,” said Silver, who assumed there was a glitch in the USPS’s website.
There wasn’t. He subsequently learned it arose from a quiet change made by the USPS that doubled the shipping costs for many Priority Mail packages sent to overseas military addresses.
That roughly translates to an annual postage hike of $50,000 for Operation Yellow Ribbon, Silver said.
“It has totally thrown a curveball at us,” he said of the nonprofit that sent out about 1,900 care packages in 2017. “We know nonprofits that have just shut down and stopped because of it.”
Silver and others have pinned their hopes on a bill introduced in Congress this month that could provide some relief.
MacArthur Introduces Legislation Lowering Rates on Military Care Packages
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom MacArthur introduced the Care Packages for Our Heroes Act to reverse unexpected postal rate hikes that have negatively affected nonprofit organizations that send care packages to our servicemembers deployed overseas.
These rate changes are the result of the United States Postal Service (USPS) consolidating centers that process APO/FPO military mail. Previously, five of these centers were located throughout the country, but have now been consolidated into a single facility located in Chicago, Illinois. As a result, nonprofits and others wishing to send care packages to servicemembers must now pay the domestic postage rate from their location to Chicago, instead of the much more conveniently located centers they previously used.
“Nonprofits play a major role in helping families and friends stay connected with loved ones deployed overseas,” said Congressman Tom MacArthur. “Because of rate hikes, some nonprofits will see a drastic increase in postage costs that will severely limit the number of packages they can afford to ship. This bill will reverse the rate increases and force the Postal Service to institute a flat rate for mail sent to an overseas military installation.”
“Care packages provide much needed basic comforts and a morale boost to our servicemembers,” MacArthur continued. “I see letters all the time from men and women in the Armed Services thanking us for the packages and the continued support. We owe it to our troops to reverse this unexpected decision and continue to allow nonprofits to provide these services.”
Local nonprofit Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey applauded Congressman MacArthur’s legislation.
“We’re grateful to see this legislation introduced to reverse additional expenses on mail being sent to our servicemembers overseas. This legislation will ensure that loved ones, family members, and military support groups and non-profits are not impacted by a logistics change to military mail service to overseas military bases,” Dave Silver of Operation Yellow Ribbon of South Jersey said.