Ep 195: UPU helping postal workers, and the USA USO

May 1, 2020

Sandra Bonfigli, from the Procurement Unit of the UPU Development Cooperation Directorate, outlines how the UPU is distributing key safety equipment for postal workers in least development countries:

• The role of the UPU in responding to natural disasters
• Distributing personal protection kits to various countries
• How the UPU partnered with another UN agency to overcome difficulties such as airport closures and air cargo shortages

Then Paul Steidler from the Lexington Institute joins me to discuss the Universal Service Obligation (USO) in the USA:

• Current obligations on the US Postal Service
• How USOs are defined (or not defined!) in the USA
• Defining a letter
• Frequency of delivery
• Could parcels become part of the USO?
• Pharmaceutical deliveries
• Is there political will to reach a compromise?
• Postal reform and losses in the letters service
• Regulatory relief in other countries
• Political barriers to reform or regulatory relief
• Viability of the letters service
• The possibility of reducing the number of delivery days per week
• Pricing
• The post office network