The History, Role, & Significance of the U.S. Post Office

In this episode, we talk about the post office with Dr. Richard R. John, Professor of History & Communications in the Columbia Journalism School at Columbia University. Dr. John teaches courses on the history of communications, capitalism, and American political development - and all of these factors have played out – in part – via the post office.

The U.S. Postal Service has found itself in focus as the 2020 presidential election nears, after reports surfaced that the head of the agency had moved forward with a plan to take sorting machines offline and remove blue postal boxes, potentially jeopardizing the ability of the post office to deliver ballots from voters to the polls in time to be counted.

With Dr. John, I explore the history, role, and significance of the U.S. Post Office - and the tension between the U.S. Post Office as a service and the desire by some to treat it as a business.