Louis DeJoy is making USPS a success story, not a failure

Your Jan 23 editorial, “Embattled U.S. postmaster Louis DeJoy is still hanging on to his job,” conflates facts with fiction. A read of the 10-year Delivering for America plan, or even the short two-page version, will reveal that Postmaster DeJoy’s strategies for the future are starkly different from the editorial’s assumptions.

As a result of his leadership and vision, the postmaster’s plan maintains universal six-day mail delivery and expanded seven-day package delivery, stabilizes our workforce, and spurs innovation. It achieves financial stability to fund employee benefits and $40 billion worth of investments in people, technology and infrastructure.

Our independently verified 2020 election mail success story served as a precursor to the incredibly positive 2021 holiday mail season. Our dedicated employees are currently delivering COVID-19 test kits, cementing our relevancy in American society.

We soon will be launching innovative solutions like USPS Connect for business mailers who are eager to better meet the needs of their local customers. Next-generation delivery vehicles will one day wind through the streets, a rolling testament that we mean business.

The world’s largest mail system is led by Postmaster General DeJoy’s commitment to ensuring a strong future for the postal service, and powered by the pride of 650,000 employees who are solely dedicated to reliable mail delivery.

We’re just getting started. We invite you to read the plan.

Tim Norman, USPS strategic communications specialist, Chicago

Teaching is harder than lawyering

In his recent letter, Douglas Johnson rightly criticized Seth Lavin’s characterization of teaching as “a brutal way to make a living.” I would disagree, however, with his statement that Lavin should “try litigation,” suggesting that this is a more difficult and challenging profession.

I have been a teacher and I have been a litigator. Believe me, teaching is much harder. Oh, and by the way, it doesn’t pay nearly as well.

Patricia Motto, Elmhurst

Ban plastics, styrofoam

“I’ve got one word for you, Benjamin: Plastics.” From the 1967 film, “The Graduate.”

And the plastic from Benjamin’s time is still hanging around today, polluting our waterways and filling our landfills. It’s time for Chicago and Illinois to get serious and pass legislation aimed at pitching plastic, and banning polystyrene foam is an easy way to start. It can not be reused, it is not accepted for curbside recycling, and it breaks apart into tiny pieces that endanger wild life.

HB3067 and SB 1073 are bills being considered in both chambers of the state legislature to ban the sale and distribution of disposable food service containers made of polystyrene foam. Chicago has failed to pass an ordinance banning polystyrene, so we must look to the state to get this done. Eight states have already banned this ubiquitous polluter. We all need to call our representatives and get Illinois to join the movement.

Claudia Jackson, Chicago