USPS shredding undeliverable books

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) - The U.S. Postal Service is shredding Imagination Library books labeled as undeliverable.

The Kingsport Times-News (https://bit.ly/1m9aFRl) reports the action comes as the two entities couldn’t come to an agreement that would allow volunteers to pick up the books for free and deliver them.

Teresa Carl is president of the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation, a partner with the Imagination Library. Carl says the cost proposed by the Postal Service of between $2 and $5 per book was too much.

USPS officials said the agency could no longer offer the service for free when other organizations paid for it.

“The Postal Service appreciates Imagination Library’s business and acknowledges its service to the community,” David Walton, USPS corporate communications spokesman said in an emailed statement. “However, the Postal Service cannot offer a free service to one organization when other organizations and businesses are paying for the same services.”

Created by country singer Dolly Parton in 1996, the Imagination Library provides a book every month to children from birth to age 5 at no cost to the family, regardless of income.

“It has been a yearlong process where the post office would no longer allow volunteers to pick up books,” Carl said. “Since 2008, the post office would allow volunteers to pick up the books and we would change the address so books wouldn’t be sent to the wrong address.”

After picking them up, volunteers would try to deliver the books to the owners or donate them elsewhere.

The postal service began shredding the books in December 2012, but then stopped temporarily to try to work out an agreement.

“Nine months ago the Postal Service afforded a six-month grace period to Imagination Library, allowing it to pick up its undeliverable books at local post offices in Tennessee free-of-charge rather than requiring it to pay for proper return services,” Walton said in the statement. “During the six-month period, the Postal Service held regular telecom/meetings with Imagination Library to help it reduce the amount of its undeliverable-as-addressed mail.”

Since an agreement couldn’t be worked out, the books are now being shredded.

Carl urges families who are enrolled for Imagination Library books to fill out a change of address form if they move.

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Information from: Kingsport Times-News, https://www.timesnews.net