Brendan Pringle writes for the Washington Examiner that the future of the U.S. Postal Service depends on millennials.
In the fast-paced age of email, the United States Postal Service has found itself struggling to survive. While the rise of e-commerce has been a blessing, it hasn’t done enough to counter the losses that the Postal Service has suffered with the declining popularity of first-class mail. As letters and postcards become less common, officials estimate this key part of their business will drop $800 million this year.
Faced with this grim reality, the government is betting on millennials to spur a recovery for the Postal Service. Last month, the USPS Office of the Inspector General released a report entitled “Millennials and the Mail” that seeks to define the illusive millennial and their relationship with snail mail.
Americans are sending less mail than they used to. In 2001, Gen X-ers between the ages of 18 and 34 received 17 pieces of mail per week. By 2017, millennials of the same age range receive 10 pieces per week.
Despite the Postal Service’s struggles, a whopping 80 percent of millennials still said they were satisfied with it, leading bureaucrats to speculate: Could millennials save the ailing Postal Service?