Stop subsidizing junk mail industry
The U.S. Post Office says it has too much mail to deliver and no money to hire more people to deliver it. After having my mail held for 19 days while out of the country, I have a new understanding of their problem. The big box of mail my carrier delivered when I returned contained 20.5 pounds of accumulated mail. Of that total, 18.7 pounds — over 90 percent — was junk mail that I neither wanted nor read. And the senders paid a small fraction of the cost of sending it. Is that what Ben Franklin imagined when he founded the Post Office?
The solution to the USPS problem is simple: quit subsidizing the junk mail industry. Increase the charges enough to reduce the amount of it that clogs our mailboxes, and use the money to improve delivery of mail that matters.
NATHAN DEAN, ATLANTA
Let’s all strive to see view from other side
I am an 84-year-old white male born on an integrated street where my playmates were both whites and blacks. My construction companies had employees and sub-contractors of many races. There was never conflict or disrespect between races. All these workers were exceptionally good people. For example, one of the Latinos gave his lunch money to a fellow worker because his job was more physically demanding; a black worker needed money to get his kid’s Christmas presents out of lay-away and was willing to do the only available job which was outside in freezing snow; a white worker who was working 50 to 60 hours a week found time to do the majority of the work on a new house for his family.
If everyone would walk in the shoes of their fellowman and see the view from the other side, this would be a more peaceful and loving country and world.
CHARLES PETTETT, ROSWELL
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