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This is a thread about the USPS.
What the GOP (and Trump's newly appointed lackey as head of USPS) are doing to this venerable American institution should be a crime.
Here's the current situation. /1
What the GOP (and Trump's newly appointed lackey as head of USPS) are doing to this venerable American institution should be a crime.
Here's the current situation. /1
The USPS has been reporting losses for over a decade, and the GAO released a report in 2017 that classified the service as “high risk,” a classification that indicates that a govt operation is very vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement /2 https://www.nny360.com/top_stories/usps-closure-looms-as-service-faces-22-billion-in-losses-over-18-months-compounded-by/article_dafed0cc-fa3a-5aac-87dd-38cc48bd1160.html
In 2006, the government moved to modernize the system with the Post Office Accountability and Enhancement Act, which mandated that the USPS deliver mail 6 days per week, updated rate setting and classifications of mail items, and required /3
... that the service prefund health/retirement benefits for all employees for 50 yrs.
That last requirement, to prefund employee benefits for 50 yrs, is unique to the postal service. No other entity, in the public/private sector, is required to prefund retirement benefits. /4
That last requirement, to prefund employee benefits for 50 yrs, is unique to the postal service. No other entity, in the public/private sector, is required to prefund retirement benefits. /4
One of Trump's donors "Louis DeJoy took over as U.S. Postmaster General and wasted little time implementing "major operational changes" that have slowed mail delivery and leave USPS unable to compete with private-sector competitors." /5 https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/22/maine-letter-carriers-allege-usps-leadership-willfully-delaying-mail-sabotage-postal
clerks are told to stop sorting by 8:30am, 1.5 hrs before most carriers leave for their routes, & are then sent home to cut costs, leaving 1st class parcels unsorted in the office overnight.
...it's medications, paychecks, and other 1st class mail getting left overnight /6
...it's medications, paychecks, and other 1st class mail getting left overnight /6
These delays are being reported all over the country, and it's only the first week of the policy change.
Can anyone imagine what it will be like in late October, when ballots are being mailed out to voters and then back into voting precincts to be counted? /7
Can anyone imagine what it will be like in late October, when ballots are being mailed out to voters and then back into voting precincts to be counted? /7
more than 300 comments by frustrated residents in two days. A second, a few days later by a Californian reported on the same group saw more than 130 comments left in less than 20 hours.
Commenters reported missing or late mail, seeing their mail carrier delivering mail as ... /8
Commenters reported missing or late mail, seeing their mail carrier delivering mail as ... /8
late as 10:30pm & receiving digital delivery notificatns up to a day B4 their packages actually arrived.
a spokesman for the Bay Area USPS said the flood of packages combind w/understaffing has overwhelmed carriers& sorting centers, delaying delivery. /9 https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2020/07/22/rural-california-residents-take-issue-u-s-postal-service/5456022002/
a spokesman for the Bay Area USPS said the flood of packages combind w/understaffing has overwhelmed carriers& sorting centers, delaying delivery. /9 https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2020/07/22/rural-california-residents-take-issue-u-s-postal-service/5456022002/
USPS has seen mail volume drop 25-to-30% during the pandemic, but about a 60% higher increase in package volume, leading senior agency officials to walk back more dire predictions of when the agency will run out of cash. /11 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2020/07/usps-package-surge-keeps-agency-afloat-but-puts-toll-on-employees/
Not only have postal workers been directed to not do overtime in order to complete their deliveries for the day, but COVID is taking its toll on staffing levels. /12
"The AP Workers Union estimates 2K-3K of its bargaining unit employees have been diagnosed w/COVID19 and at least 25K employees have had to quarantine.
USPS cutting down on overtime during pandemic puts a strain on postal employees & customers." /13 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2020/07/usps-package-surge-keeps-agency-afloat-but-puts-toll-on-employees/
USPS cutting down on overtime during pandemic puts a strain on postal employees & customers." /13 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2020/07/usps-package-surge-keeps-agency-afloat-but-puts-toll-on-employees/
USPS officials are uncertain about how long this spike in packages will last... the increased deliveries have kept the agency afloat.
“I don’t know what the future entails... it’s just the whole world has been turned upside down. Nothing is normal like we knew it.” /14
“I don’t know what the future entails... it’s just the whole world has been turned upside down. Nothing is normal like we knew it.” /14
“the USPS delivers almost 1/2 the world’s mail, exponentially more than any individual private carrier …W/out the USPS, it won’t be Amazon or other major corps that suffer...It will be small biz/consumers that suffer the most.” /15 https://www.practicalecommerce.com/usps-woes-could-impact-ecommerce-smbs
Some GOP were as startled as Democrats. The Trump-appointed Postal Board of Governors backs a $25 billion request /20 https://www.galesburg.com/news/20200630/bill-knight-popular-post-office-threatened-by-trumprsquos-attacks
and ex-GOP Congressman John McHugh, of shippers’ Package Coalition said, “Why anyone on the GOP side of the aisle would want to bring the Postal Service close to a financial shutdown six to eight weeks out from the election and thinks that’s a vote-getter is beyond me.” /21
