The current GOP run Congress, despite its right wing corporate agenda, has no immediate plan to eliminate or privatize the USPS, but it could do so. Clinging to a fictional constitutional protection is about as realistic as Linus clutching his security blanket- it may be comforting, but it won’t really protect you, or your job. The United States Post Office USPO. Recent changes, including the dismantling of hundreds of high-speed mail-sorting machines and cuts to overtime and late delivery trips, triggered several … The passage states that the Congress “shall have the power . His main objection lay in the argument that the monopoly violated individual and constitutional rights in at least three ways. The United States Postal Service (USPS; also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, including its insular areas and associated states.It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. to establish Post Offices and Post Roads.” . Constitutional issues In one sense, there is no legal requirement that only the government deliver the mail. Mail addressed to more than one person may be delivered to any of them. Before the American Revolution, very little official mail was exchanged throughout the colonies. . Erik Larson; Bookmark. The power to create was not a power to prohibit. First, Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution authorized Congress “to establish post offices and post roads,” but it didn’t bar others from doing so as well. The USPS does use private contractors on a regular basis. In 1789, the “postal clause” of the U.S. Constitution — Article 1, section 8 — gave the Congress power over the Post Office. That said, there's obviously no Constitutional right because the first mail delivery services in the US didn't come about until the mid-1800s, 70 years after the Constitution was written, and were not even part of the US government, the USPS itself not being founded until 1971. An election judge wearing a protective mask prepares mail-in ballots to be scanned by the Montgomery County Board of Elections at a recreation center in Germantown, Maryland, U.S. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg) USPS Says Timely Vote Delivery Isn’t a Constitutional Right. However, when things began to heat up in the 1760s, a much greater need arose for a more organized postal service. There is nothing in the Constitution which guaranties you the right to receive mail. However, mail bearing a joint address does not give either party the right to control mail addressed jointly or to a spouse. Then there’s the issue of intracity mail delivery: A person could drop letters at a post for delivery by a letter carrier within the same city, but that was a secondary service as far as the Post Office was concerned; even after the 1863 act, such “drop letters” were considered “not transmitted in the mails of the United States.” Addressees may refuse mail at the time of delivery or within a reasonable time as long as the mail is unopened. If you are having a problem, you might try contacting your local postmaster, or if …