Alaska News

Alaska delegation plays 'mythbusters' on bypass mail report

Alaska's Congressional delegation on Friday released a list of statements taking issue with a recent, highly critical report about the Alaska bypass mail program from the office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service. The program provides subsidies to air carriers to provide in-state freight and mail shipments to bush locations.

The report, titled "Bypass Mail: Beyond its Original Purpose," recommended that the state of Alaska could take over funding any cost overruns of the more than $70 million per-year program -- a cost the Postal Service currently shoulders. The report even went so far as to say the Postal Service could be completely removed from the bypass mail system, since "it plays only a minimal role in the process today outside of paying for it."

In their letter to the Inspector General, the Alaska Delegation questioned nine of the claims made in the report, including that a gallon of milk costs less in the Northern community of Bethel than it does in the hub city of Anchorage. A call to retailers in both cities cleared that up pretty quickly.

"On November 28, 2011, the price of a gallon of Lucerne 2% milk at the Anchorage Carrs/Safeway costs $3.39 while a gallon of that same milk cost $6.99 in Bethel at the Alaska Commercial Company," the delegation says in its letter.

Additionally, it asks for clarification on a comparison of the number of flights between Anchorage and Juneau -- serviced in part by 144-seat Boeing 737s -- and flights between Anchorage and King Salmon -- services by planes that hold 36 people at most.

The delegation's reaction to the report is similar to one it had to Calif. Rep. Darrell Issa's suggestion in October that the Postal Service stop subsidizing bypass mail. As recently as February of this year, the Postmaster General told Begich that the Postal Service was behind the bypass mail program.

The full letter can be found attached to this article.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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