ROCKPORT — Dana Salo stood by Dock Square at the entrance to Bearskin Neck on Sunday, waving to people he knew while explaining exactly why the petition in his hand absolutely had to be signed.
"A lot of elderly people live alone. Sometimes the only person they see is the letter carrier," Salo said. "If Saturday delivery stops, that's two days when something could happen and no one would notice."
As part of cost-cutting measures, Congress is considering ending mail delivery on Saturdays and closing several post offices. Ending Saturday delivery is estimated to save around $3 billion, while closing post offices and processing stations (and the accompanying layoffs of postal workers) would save another $3 billion, according to the plan's supporters.
According to Salo, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union, though, the projected savings are unnecessary because the U.S. Postal Service is actually running at a profit — or would be if it weren't for accounting tricks.
In 2006, a law was passed that required the Postal Service to fund retiree health benefits for the next 75 years within the next decade.
"We're funding benefits for people who haven't been hired yet, and some people who haven't been born yet," said Salo, 51, who is the president of the Cape Ann chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Without those costs, he says, the Postal Service had more than $600 million in profits each of the last four years. The Postal Service operates on revenue earned via shipping charges and stamp sales, and does not receive any funding from taxes.
The petition Salo and others are circulating asks Congress to refrain from cutting the Postal Service, and postal workers are collecting signatures across the country. Signatures are supposed to be sent to the national office by Monday, so Salo and other Cape Ann postal employees are collecting signatures only through Thursday, so they can be sure their signatures arrive on time.
Salo, who lives in Gloucester, has been a letter carrier for 28 years. He carries letters to homes in Rockport's South End six days a week in snow, rain and heat,
Starting in February, Salo is scheduled to begin carrying letters in downtown Rockport instead, but Salo insists that nothing is certain and that he hopes to keep to his existing route.
While asking for signatures, Salo gossiped with neighbors and people he knew came over to sign the petition. Between noon and 12:30 p.m., Salo collected 25 signatures — well above the goal of 10 signatures per letter carrier or postal worker. As the afternoon wore on, Salo got signatures from Rockport residents and visitors from as far away as San Antonio, Texas.
Rockport police Patrolman Roger Lesch signed the petition from his patrol car while chatting with Salo. After signing the petition, Carolie Hubbard of Gloucester and her sister June Lucas of Rockport joked, "I don't want bills in my mail for a few weeks after this."
Matt Tumbiolo, 34, of Rockport said he gets much more mail via the postal system than via email, and said he signed the petition "just to help the guy out."
Some who passed Salo refused to sign the petition and said they would not miss Saturday delivery, and one woman said she would rather not get mail six days a week because "it's just junk mail anyway." But many spoke about the importance of the letter carriers in their own routine.
"What would we do if we didn't see Jim on Saturdays?" said Arthur Munroe of Gloucester. Munroe and his wife both signed the petition.
Salo said he also knows first-hand how important it can be to have someone who knows the routine of a neighborhood.
"We go by everyday, we notice things like 'she didn't get her mail for three days. That's not like Mary' and find out she fell and needs help," said Salo. "If we didn't go past for another day, she might not get help for a while."
Other postal employees have been passing the petition around. Salo's brother Jery, also a letter carrier, spent several hours at the Rockport dump to gather signatures.
Anyone who wants to sign the petition can also do so online at http://nalc.org/.
Stephanie Bergman can contacted at 978-283-7000 x3451 or sbergman@gloucestertimes.com
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