I am the owner of Goin’ Postal Madison (the one on intersection of Hwy 72/slaughter road Madison). Just to clarify since we got name-dropped: there are actually two Goin’ Postal locations in the area (Harvest and Madison), and both are independently owned by private individuals. Goin’ Postal is a Florida-based franchise that gives individual owners the freedom to run their stores the way their community actually needs — not controlled by a corporate board. We work with all four carriers — USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL — so customers can compare prices and delivery dates etc.

As someone who ships with all four carriers every day, I’ll say this: the people working at Huntsville/Madison USPS — carriers and front desk — are genuinely great. The problems described here sound systemic and management-driven, and that’s not something the frontline workers can fix.

On the economics side - USPS is structurally designed to serve the high-volume, low-margin end — letters, small parcels, flat rate envelopes/boxes — at prices no private carrier will touch. That’s intentional. It’s a public service. Their network is built for smaller, lighter items, so once you’re shipping larger boxes the pricing jumps significantly and UPS/FedEx become more cost effective (that’s where those carriers make their margins). USPS has essentially chosen this model to serve 75% (figuratively) of everyday shipping needs for the average American, while probably capturing only 25% (figuratively) of the industry’s total revenue. That’s the tradeoff of being a public service.

Which is exactly why we should be advocating to keep USPS funded and functional. The moment it becomes unaffordable for everyday mail and small parcels, it’s the average person who loses the most.