Peace Corps Polyglot

NPCA, Others Meet With Postal Officials on Humanitarian Shipping

Because of the concern raised by hundreds of groups and thousands of individuals (many from the Peace Corps community), key officials of the United States Postal Service's Global Business Division met today with members of a coalition seeking a return to more affordable overseas shipping rates for books and other humanitarian materials.

In response to the level of public concern expressed to a decision last May which eliminated international surface mail, the USPS is in the process of trying to establish a new service that will lower current rates (which tripled or quadrupled in the past six months) while adhering to a congressional mandate that USPS operate at a profit.

NPCA Advocacy Coordinator Jonathan Pearson was part of today's meeting.  "While we did not receive a specific date on when the new service would be finalized, the USPS officials we met with stressed they are seriously exploring how they can provide humanitarian groups and individuals the best, most cost-efficient solution possible.  This is directly due to the many citizen concerns raised over the last several months."

Pearson says today's meeting highlighted several additional matters including special concerns and challenges in providing low cost shipping service to Africa and possible legislative initiatives through Congress to try and address the issue.

Nearly 7,000 individuals have now signed an on-line petition to share their concern about the need to support humanitarian shipping.  Please continue to sign the petition and share it with others if you have not yet taken action.

For additional information on this issue, click on the tag "M-Bag" at the bottom of this post, or in the right hand column under "Categories."  Information can also be found in the Advocacy section of the NPCA website.  If you are a Facebook user, look for the M-Bag issue in the Causes application.

House Subcommittee Questions Postal Officials on Global Book Rates

The House subcommittee responsible for oversight of the US Postal Service held an October 30th hearing focused primarily on rate structures for periodical mailings. However, due to advocacy by the Peace Corps community and others, lawmakers also raised the issue of the USPS decision to eliminate affordable ground shipping of books and other humanitarian materials.

Noting the "tremendous amount of inquiry relative to international charitable mail," Subcommittee Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) asked Postmaster General John Potter and Board of Governors Chairman James Miller to address these concerns. Potter stated the recommendation to eliminate surface mail was due to a combination of declining volume within the service and cases where airmail was the only option to send such mail. Adding that the postal service is not insensitive to their needs, Potter told the subcommittee his agency is looking at ways under the new rate structure to be able to accommodate the humanitarian initiatives of charitable organizations.

Following the hearing NPCA - on behalf of a coalition of concerned organizations - presented Potter with a group sign-on letter and online petition urging a remedy from the recent changes which have tripled or quadrupled shipping costs for humanitarian book projects.

If you have not yet signed the on-line petition, please take action and continue to build momentum for this effort.

Sign Petition Supporting Overseas Book Projects NOW, in Advance of Congressional Hearing

While the focus of an October 3^rd hearing by a House subcommittee that deals with the U.S. postal service will focus on an unrelated issue, the NPCA, many RPCV affiliates and other organizations making up the “Coalition to Restore Surface M-Bag Service” have been asked to submit statements into the record about the growing concern surrounding elimination of international surface mail service, which has significantly increased shipping costs for humanitarian book and library projects.

If you (or others you know) have not yet signed the on-line petition, please take action now!  Include your name, Peace Corps connection (if applicable), zip code and offer a comment on the importance of this service.

We also seek additional RPCV affiliates and other organizations to join the coalition.

Please be sure to bookmark the NPCA Homepage and Advocacy Homepage for updated action opportunities between now and October 3^rd.

First Media Attention on Surface Mail Issue

Washington Jewish Week Online is the first media outlet that we've heard of to run a story on the elimination of international surface mail and how this is affecting non-profit humanitarian groups.  Michael Quint, international coordinator for Books for Israel recently went to Capitol Hill with NPCA Advocacy Coordinator Jonathan Pearson to talk to Congressional staff about the problem. 

Click here to read the story.

Petitions: Restore International Surface Mail for Humanitarian Groups

Shannon Brown, Book Project Coordinator for the Friends of Malawi, has created an online petition to save the U.S. Postal Service International Surface Mail Service for Humanitarian Projects.

Many non-profit organizations, faith communities, schools and individuals used this method to ship books, professional journals and other educational materials to nations in need, expanding educational opportunities for thousands of students around the world.

Click here to TAKE ACTION NOW and get the links to TWO petitions:  one to Congress, one to the U.S. Postal Service.

Shannon and other concerned parties have also started a yahoo!group for any organizations or individuals who would like to talk about this issue. People can join the group by addressing a message to m-bags-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

NPCA is working to arrange meetings on Capitol Hill with relevant legislators and is drafting an Action Letter to be sent to members of Congress. Stay tuned!

Elimination of International Surface Mail Hits Peace Corps Commmunity Hard

On May 14 the U.S. Postal Service eliminated International Surface Mail (M-Bag).  This is the method used extensively by NPCA affiliate groups, returned Peace Corps volunteers and friends/family of currently serving Peace Corps volunteers in supporting grassroots efforts in many rural schools and communities in our countries of service.

USPS now offers airmail service only, which in most cases has tripled (or even quadrupled) the cost of shipping items overseas.  This has shut down many projects not only with RPCVs but other non-profits, church groups and school groups. (Click here to read the USPS press release.)

Several groups (Friends of Malawi, African Library Project, One World Childrens Fund, among others) are compiling a list of non-profits and other groups who are protesting the elimination of International Surface Mail.  This list will be sent to the Board of Governors of USPS as well as to Henry Waxman, the Chairman of the Oversight and Govt. Reform Committee which oversees USPS.

If you are interested in adding your name or your group’s name to this list, e-mail Shannon Brown, Book Project Coordinator for the Friends of Malawi and let her know your Peace Corps connection.  She is hoping to have a list with hundreds of names of affected groups and projects, to emphasize the scope of damage this change has caused.  An online petition may also be in the works, so stay tuned.   

(Photo courtesy of the African Library Project.)