NALC national President Fred Rolando spoke at the general assembly of the Region 12 Rap Session as the key note speaker. He talked about the scope of the Postal Service; where we’ve come from, where we are at currently, and where his vision is for us to go. In this article, I’ll touch on a few key points. The “last mile” philosophy is our future. The “last mile” refers to our ability as letter carriers to get our services to the end user which is our customers (i.e. the last mile). By law the postal service has an obligation to universal service. Universal service says that we will deliver mail to any address in the country. In fact, there are some routes in the country where the whole route consists of delivering mail to one house. That last mile gives us an advantage that no other company has. Not only do people trust their letter carriers more than any other people in the service industry, but they tend to consider us a part of their family. President Rolando talked about;

• A pilot program where we would partner with CVS Drug Stores to deliver prescriptions on our routes.
• Taking back the parcel business
• A new Postal Reform Act
• Six Day delivery...
  President Rolando explained in detail the history and relevance of six day delivery. The NALC will we fight to the end to prevent six day delivery with all our resources. That’s why we have permanent people on staff in Washington to address our legislative concerns. Also, every NALC Region in the country comes to Capitol Hill to lobby their Congressman and Senators about the issues that affect us as letter carriers. Each branch has in place a position call CDLs (Congressional District Liaison). Their job at the lowest level is to be the contact between their local politicians and the national and state departments of the NALC. They are also sometimes called on the work on the campaigns of NALC friendly candidates. They also keep the branch up on all the issues that affect us as letter carriers.
  
  The President explained that the six day delivery is tied to a bill as a provision. It is an appropriations bill “rider” (an addition). The bill addresses military voting, free services for the blind, etc. This bill is renewed on a yearly basis. So, for six day delivery to take affect, the language of the bill would have to be changed when it comes up for renewal in the next governmental fiscal year.



• Some of the new revenue generators
  would be Netflix, fruit shippers, and drug companies. The main concern of the national office is to prevent job losses (six day delivery would automatically eliminate 10,000 jobs). Our greatest asset is our 300,000 letter carriers and the influence that we carry with our political leaders.