Today, we're calling on our entire US-based specialty coffee community to pledge support for the United States Postal Service as a vital service to our country.
As the most widely available and affordable way to ship fresh roasted coffee to people's homes, we rely on USPS for our businesses. Our US-based specialty coffee industry represents over $25 billion of retail value, and a high proportion of our package shipments are sent by USPS Priority Mail.
The current administration's actions have led to cut backs in USPS services and its ability to pick up, process, transport, and deliver our packages. We do have the option to switch small parcel fulfillment to UPS, FedEx, or another carrier. However, we will not switch.
We see the current administration's actions as an attack on the upcoming 2020 Presidential election and an effort to undermine Americans' ability to vote with mail-in ballots, the safest way to conduct this election during our COVID-19 pandemic. The cuts in USPS funding and the actions of the Trump-appointed postmaster general has led to increased delays in shipments and lost packages, not to mention the threat to the jobs of the over 630,000 postal workers nationwide.
So we're today announcing our commitment to sticking with USPS for our mail-order coffee shipments. If packages are delayed or lost, we will do our best to replace them as soon as possible.
We're also asking our customers to be patient and understanding. As with so much during this pandemic, we're all experiencing challenges together but doing the right thing involves making choices that don't always prioritize our convenience.
We're also inviting our entire specialty coffee industry community to join us in this commitment. Please share and encourage others to join us as well, in any industry there is. Let's take a stand, even if it makes life less convenient, because our democracy and our country are worth it.
?????? #coffeelovesUSPS
|