Alaska Bypass Mail

BETHEL, AK - MAY 13: The Postal Service's fees for the pallet the The Washington Post via Getty Images tracked from Anchorage to Hooper Bay are stuck on this paper attached to the pallet, which sits in the Everts Air Cargo landing area after being unloaded by an Everts Air Cargo airplane in Bethel, AK on May 13, 2014. The Postal Service was paid Everts is one of the five "mainline" airliners that can carry Bypass Mail from Anchorage or Fairbanks to the regional hubs. From Bethel, one of the nine airliners approved to fly to regional bush villages will take the freight that needs to go elsewhere. Bethel, which has a population of about 6,000, and is the largest bush town, serves as one of the Bypass Mail hubs. There are no movie theaters or bars in town, but they do have a jail and a regional hospital. Grocery prices are relatively high, with milk around $10 a gallon. Alaska's Bypass Mail program was established by the state's former senator Ted Stevens in the early 1980s. The program requires the Postal Service to subsidize the cost of shipping freight, including groceries and other household goods, to rural villages in Alaska's bush. Through this program, retailers spend about half as much to ship goods to these areas than they would if the items were shipped using private freight rates. But the goods bypass the post office completely and are shipped by private airliners, hence the name "Bypass." In 2011, the Postal Service's inspector general issued a report saying the Bypass Mail program is a "broken" system. Now, Republican congressman Darrell Issa, from California, has created a bill in an effort to change the program to, as he says, make it more efficient. (Photo by Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
BETHEL, AK - MAY 13: The Postal Service's fees for the pallet the The Washington Post via Getty Images tracked from Anchorage to Hooper Bay are stuck on this paper attached to the pallet, which sits in the Everts Air Cargo landing area after being unloaded by an Everts Air Cargo airplane in Bethel, AK on May 13, 2014. The Postal Service was paid Everts is one of the five "mainline" airliners that can carry Bypass Mail from Anchorage or Fairbanks to the regional hubs. From Bethel, one of the nine airliners approved to fly to regional bush villages will take the freight that needs to go elsewhere. Bethel, which has a population of about 6,000, and is the largest bush town, serves as one of the Bypass Mail hubs. There are no movie theaters or bars in town, but they do have a jail and a regional hospital. Grocery prices are relatively high, with milk around $10 a gallon. Alaska's Bypass Mail program was established by the state's former senator Ted Stevens in the early 1980s. The program requires the Postal Service to subsidize the cost of shipping freight, including groceries and other household goods, to rural villages in Alaska's bush. Through this program, retailers spend about half as much to ship goods to these areas than they would if the items were shipped using private freight rates. But the goods bypass the post office completely and are shipped by private airliners, hence the name "Bypass." In 2011, the Postal Service's inspector general issued a report saying the Bypass Mail program is a "broken" system. Now, Republican congressman Darrell Issa, from California, has created a bill in an effort to change the program to, as he says, make it more efficient. (Photo by Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Alaska Bypass Mail
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Credit:
The Washington Post / Contributor
Editorial #:
451427882
Collection:
The Washington Post
Date created:
12 May, 2014
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Source:
The Washington Post
Object name:
AlaskaBypassMail