WASHINGTON -
Sen. Bernie Sanders says the U.S. Postal Service needs a new business model.
Sanders is pushing Congress to help ease financial pressure on the U.S. Postal Service, hoping that will help avoid 200,000 layoffs and the closure of thousands of mail facilities across the country, including the mail center in White River Junction. The USPS says the Internet has cut demand and that first class mail is down 20 percent.
"Get them involved in the digital age, not run away from it. Get them involved, expand what they can do both with state and local government as well as what they can do with the private sector," said Sanders, I-Vermont.
Sanders' postal service bill would allow workers to make copies, notarize documents and sell hunting licenses. He also wants retirement funding regulations on the postal service to be reduced, so they would be more in line with other businesses.
