When Devin Leonard started writing a book about the Postal Service, it made him see the world in a new way.

He'd walk outside, realized there's a mailbox.

There's a letter carrier.

He was seeing the Postal Service all around him.

They just have this huge presence. Once you start really paying attention

to the postal service, you see their trucks, you see their letter carriers everywhere. There's a

post office. It seems, you know, sometimes, you know, every, you know, three or four blocks or, you know,

in every downtown. Right now, you are probably noticing the postal service a bit more, too. The only people

coming to my door these days are post office employees. Neighborhood kids have put up these signs

thanking the folks delivering the mail each day. And Devin says all that makes a kind of sense.

The fact that these men and women, they keep coming every day,

it's just some sign that's, you know, your connection with the outside world,

there's some sign that things haven't, the world hasn't totally sort of blown up

or, you know, you're gone to hell with this disease.

But despite how ubiquitous the post office is,

despite the fact that many folks are feeling thankful for the work these carriers are doing under such threatening conditions, the post office is in trouble.

We know that the Postal Service has struggled economically for a while now, but the Postmaster General is saying that the pandemic is having a devastating

effect on its business and calls this moment a critical juncture. A few weeks back, Democratic

legislators warned the coronavirus might force the Postal Service to shut down entirely over the

summer. The agency just doesn't have the money to keep operating.

Can the U.S. Postal Service remain afloat?

Today on the show, Washington has bailed out airlines, hotels, even Amtrak.

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