What is bypass mail

Can remote villages of predominately low-income people be maintained in Arctic and sub-Arctic locales without large government subsidies? Sign up for a free FreightWaves account today for unlimited access to all of our latest content.

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Related Articles. Sugary drinks account for a lot of the volume carried through Bypass Mail, and health experts have long worried about the high consumption of those drinks in Alaska villages. Experts say the consumption of sugary drinks is linked to a much bigger problem that plagues much of the Arctic — lack of dependable access to clean water for drinking and sanitation, a wide-ranging issue being addressed by the Arctic Council and other organizations.

But ensuring that there is a different mix of beverages delivered to rural Alaska, with more healthful choices substituting for the sugary drinks, is among several recommendations made in a study published in in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health. Beyond Bypass Mail, mail delivery in Alaska has other features that distinguish it from delivery in the rest of the United States. There is a history of mail delivery by dog sled , which is now part of Postal Service lore.

The Iditarod Trail was one of the routes used by dog-mushing mail carriers; Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race competitors carry ceremonial cachets in their sleds to pay homage to that tradition. The first airmail delivery in Alaska was in , though air deliveries did not become common until later. Arctic Business Journal Subscribe Donate. Home Arctic Economy U. By with a cash infusion from two east coast private equity firms, Ravn was indisputably the largest Bush carrier in the state, while also operating multiple mainline routes as well.

In many towns and villages, its planes were the only option for mail and scheduled passenger service. As USPS officials scrambled to deal with the fallout, it was Part carriers who mobilized to get the mail back in the air. Ravn carriers exclusively held several routes, which, according to RSIA, raised issues for other carriers to enter into markets.

The irony that it was Part carriers that saved the mail in the wake of Part destruction is not lost on many. I would imagine that somewhere Art Warbelow, who sold his company in , was shaking his head at how things turned out. The bypass system, along with the entire Alaskan mail system, is not perfect. It was designed on the fly, adjusted over time, heavily tampered with to aid in the growth of one company and, with subsequent reductions in the aviation industry, has little capacity to cope with the failure of any significant air carrier.

Every year rural Alaskans purchase tons of food from Alaskan merchants in Alaskan cities to be shipped on Alaskan air carriers and they do all of this without requiring the post office to handle a single box. A huge segment of our transportation economy is built on bypass and while the current Postmaster General might see savings in destroying it, Alaskans know better. Now pilots are moving 10, pounds of food for the local store, but the job of delivering what rural Alaska needs is still the same.

If we learned nothing else from the end of Ravn Air it should be that the fallout from halting bypass would be a lot more complicated than anyone at the US Postal Service can imagine.

Then, Ravn went out of business. Bypass mail is a uniquely Alaskan solution to a uniquely Alaskan problem. I know of several places where this is being abused out of King Salmon Ak.

Al Gross, also an Independent, challenging Sen. Let us not mince words: it must be stopped. DeJoy is scheduled to testify before the House committee on oversight and reform on Monday. Skip to content. Skywatch Alaska. Athlete Of The Week. Telling Alaska's Story. Stream Us On VUit. Connect With Us. Sign Up for Newsletter. Submit Photos and Videos.