Here is a good article on the Vox News site, explaining the current situation with USPS: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/7/21358946/postal-service-mail-delays-election-trump-mail-in-ballots
Mail service has been disrupted nationwide in recent weeks due to a series of factors. While the USPS has been suffering financially for years, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered an existential threat to the agency. The self-funded Postal Service has been seeking billions in aid from Congress — an effort that’s been stymied by President Trump, who has long had a contentious relationship with the USPS and has pushed to privatize it.
....All of this means the future of the Postal Service is in jeopardy. It was actually in big trouble months ago, when postal leaders warned that without intervention from Congress, the USPS could run out of cash as soon as September.
"... a serious and immediate consequence of the Postal Service’s recent problems has led to concern that the delays could interfere with the November election, when a record number of people are expected to vote by mail due to the pandemic. Given the facts and the president’s ongoing public criticism of mail-in voting, some are accusing Trump of intentionally kneecapping the Postal Service in an attempt to sabotage the election, as he trails Joe Biden in the polls.
"The story of how we got here is complicated, and there is disagreement about what’s really going on. However, according to postal leaders and Democrats, the way to fix the mail in time for the election involves an infusion of cash and an end to the delays. Even then, the Postal Service faces a tough road ahead."
"...It’s tempting to blame all of the Postal Service’s service problems on the new postmaster general, DeJoy, but it wouldn’t be entirely fair. After years of money problems tied to a decline in certain types of mail and an obligation to prefund its retirement benefits, the USPS suffered a very serious financial blow when the pandemic hit."
"...Postmaster General DeJoy, a former logistics executive with no Postal Service experience, started his new gig by launching a series of pilot programs designed to slash USPS spending. Multiple postal worker unions reported that DeJoy’s policies limited mail transportation, causing mail to be left at the sorting plant for days longer than it normally would. Meanwhile, a crackdown on overtime hours meant that sorting machines are shut down before the day’s work is done. (“If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” read one USPS memo obtained by the Washington Post.) As a result, mail is sitting undelivered across the country."
"...Considering DeJoy’s connections to Trump and the Republican Party and the reports of worsening mail delays with the election less than 100 days away, many are afraid that the president is plotting to rig the election in November by casting doubt on the dependability of mail-in voting."
"...What the Postal Service needs right now — both to deliver mail and to keep existing — is money. What it needs in the long term, some say, is a bit of restructuring."
And meanwhile perhaps alternative strategies are needed for making the election secure. Everyone should check to make sure they are still registered, and haven't been purged from the voting lists. If one plans to vote by mail, it is best to do it as early as possible. Even if you request an absentee ballot, it is possible to hand-deliver it to the courthouse, or a designated drop box. Some locations have early in-person voting. Every effort should be made to ensure that polling-place voting is available on election day, without unreasonable waiting times. Some states have mentioned calling in the National Guard for assistance if enough volunteers can't be found to man the polling stations.
This is a piece of the greatest government screw-up of all time. That I can say. Elsewhere, you may have noticed that the combined wisdom of the stable genius and the business mogul who sleeps through meetings have messed up, for the first time, the Census, which has been taken every 10 years since 1790. The Post Office, in various forms, had delivered the mail regularly since 1775 before the stable genius and the former logistics executive got hold of it.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, messing up the Census and Post Office serve the interests of the criminal conspiracy known as keeping The Don out of the slammer.
Meanwhile, when will Mexico make its first payment for the wall? Why is the Steve Mnuchin, foreclosure expert, negotiating with Congress on behalf of the nation's greatest deal-maker? Can't the deal-maker cut his own deals? Speaking of whom, what ever happened to the trade deal he was going to make to replace the awful Trans-Pacific Partnership? And when will he replace Obamacare with something better? Just askin'.
Here in Ohio, one can request a mail ballot and return either by mail, or by hand delivery to the Court house. Since the Court House is a few blocks from the post office, I usually hand deliver it.
ReplyDeleteIt involves walking into the Elections office and placing the ballot in a box. Very simple and safe without any lines or human interaction in these pandemic conditions.
The present USPS woes have roots in 1971, when the (Republican) Congress decided that it needed to operate like a business, and turn a profit, rather than as a department of government supported by taxes. What resulted was a hybrid, expected to turn a profit, but it was still an "essential service", expected to deliver mail to everyone, and not allowed to be run completely as a self-sufficient business.
ReplyDeleteFriendly correction: the Democrats were in the majority in both Houses of Congress in 1971, as they had since, I dunno, FDR's day? Not sure. But for a long time. That lasted until the Reagan revolution. There was a Republican in the White House, though. He was chock-full of bad policy ideas: remember wage and price controls? My rule of thumb is, "If it was a 1970s policy, it was bad." Well, I guess the EPA made it under the wire, barely. I thought the ADA did, too, but I see that wasn't until a couple of decades later.
DeleteAgree that the present post office arrangement is terrible. Not disagreeing that it's on the government screw-up Mt. Rushmore, but so is Amtrak.
ReplyDeleteJim, you're right about a lot of '70s policies. About Amtrak, it's messed up, but it affects a lot fewer people than the Postal Service.
DeleteThe Trump administration has gutted much of the civil service. We're pretty much back to Jackson and the spoils system.
Amtrak between New York and Washington is a, well, not a Godsend, but a Congress-send. I used it many times. If it didn't exist, a bunch of highways would need to be widened by two or three lanes in each direction. I realize that Amtrak has some routes designed in the House of Representatives by people using electoral, instead of geographic, maps. In that respect, it's probably a boondoggle the rest of the country has to pay for. But if they shut down Amtrak and widen the highways, the rest of the country will get a hefty part of that bill, too.
DeleteWe have a high-speed rail system being "built" in Florida. So far it goes only from Miami to West Palm Beach, and the passenger count on that bit of the route is way under expectations. (It competes with lower-speed, cheaper gummint-run rail.) The government-backed bonds issued for it are way over expectations. Eventually, it will go to Orlando and Jacksonville. Or not. The Florida management just kicked out Richard Branson and took the Virgin out of Brightline Florida, but Branson says he isn't going. Robert Crandall, former chief of American Airlines, charged this is a real estate play, not a railroad, they are working on (right, as usual, Bob), and one of the official spokesbabblers as much as confirmed that. So if you think government can't run a railroad, I need you to show signs that the private sector can do any better.
Meanwhile, Gov. Fumbles has gotten approval from a compliant Legislature -- Republican -- for an interbloomingstate highway from around Tampa through the middle of Nowhere, Fl., debouching into a Georgia town of under 2,000 souls. That is a private sector real estate play (the Nowhere is environmentally sensitive land that will have to be developed to justify the interstate) backed by the government, just like Brightline (Virgin) Florida.
I think there are only three places where you can get on or off Amtrak in Nebraska. There's one route, east and west. You have to meet the train in the middle of the night, because everybody knows there's nothing to see here.
DeleteOne time my aunt decided to take a trip on Amtrak, just to see what it was like. The train derailed, and she got hurt (fortunately not seriously). So yeah, we have a different perspective on it than East Coasters. I'm sure it does qualify as an essential service for you.
If it even stopped in my town, and my hometown, I would get up in the middle of the night to get on and avoid four and a half hours of dodging truck traffic on the interstate.
A few years back a derailment took out the train depot in my hometown. They tore down the one here after a bunch of artists and photographers took a crack at recording it for posterity. A train that stops for us is a distant memory.
"So if you think government can't run a railroad, I need you to show signs that the private sector can do any better."
ReplyDeleteRight - I think it was shown decades ago that private companies were perfectly capable of going broke trying to run profitable passenger rail service.
I've never ridden (rode?) one of those Acela corridor Amtrak routes, but I've heard elsewhere, too, that they're popular and probably come as close to financial viability as anywhere in the US. We have suburban commuter rail lines in the Chicago metro area which converge on downtown Chicago which are heavily utilized (or were in the pre-pandemic days). They're not part of Amtrak, but instead are state and regionally governed. What these things have in common, I suppose, is densely populated areas and relatively short distances - the east coast probably is the part of the US most like Europe in that respect.
If we want viable passenger rail in the US (and I do), the American people and its government have to agree to operate it with government funding, with passenger fees partially defraying the costs. That's the model which apparently works in Europe. I have to think that embracing passenger rail is one of the umpteen things in our lives that will need to change as we try to deal with climate change (remember that?)
Whatever the mail delivery requirements were in 1971, they're way different now, what with the Internet and email. No reason not to press the reset button on the post office. And I suppose the pandemic will change mail requirements yet again (much less in-person shopping, much more mail-order delivery of goods). A rational, well-functioning government would do some strategic planning. I wonder whether we'll ever get one of those (a rational, well-functioning government).
ReplyDeleteSince I have lived in the DC area for way too long, I see political manipulation everywhere. The Postal Service has been in trouble for a long time, partly due to a very powerful union. They have excellent (not really totally funded) pension benefits [better than normal federal workers], and they have successfully fought off planned closures of small, rural post offices. I have seen that in action - tiny post offices spaced a few miles apart that were supposed to be closed, but the union pressure kept them open, even though it made no financial sense at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is all a part of Trump's scheme to declare election fraud in order to stay put in the WH for as long as possible. The current Postmaster General, a former travel industry lobbyist who knows zilch about running a national postal service, has been a generous donor to the GOP and Trump (in the millions of $) and I'm quite sure he would be more than willing to slow deliveries, lose mail, etc, etc. because the PO is underfunded, partly due to Trump.
Amtrak: Very popular between DC and NYC and Boston, especially for business travelers. Easier and faster than the plane, when you count TSA waits, etc. But, other routes? I just priced out a trip from DC to LA on the train. Ridiculously high! So we will drive out there in Nov or December instead. Normally it's cheapest to fly, but if Dr.Fauci isn't willing to fly right now, neither are we!
It isn't just the unions in those small towns. Grandma needs her by-mail meds (and the chat with the postmistress), and you are going to take that away from her only after you survive -- IF you survive -- taking their guns away from the good ol' boys. Those little post offices are just something else Easterners want do destroy because they don't serve brie, but we got one in 19whatever, and we ain't giving it up.
DeleteI really think people would be happier if we could just undo that '70s-era legislation and reincorporate the US Post Office into the executive branch, with the Postmaster General part of the president's cabinet again. Although, from what Anne reports, maybe the post office workers would resist being put on the same footing as other federal employees!
DeleteI suppose this isn't a very deep comment, but: all the people who deliver mail to our house are very nice. And I like having post offices in every town. For tasks like applying for passports, I'm sure it's convenient. Is the proliferation of post offices really what makes the post office insolvent?
Jim, how do you define town? The area I am familiar with is on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It has three "big" towns. One is a genuine town with a population of 16,000. The second big town has 1000 population, and the third town (a tourist destination) has 600. Not much bigger than the other places that have their own post offices. I checked 4 small communities (there are more than four!) that are within 5 miles of each of these three "big" towns. Their populations were 400-490 in three of them, and 91 in one of them. They all have their own post offices - saved from being closed several years ago. They aren't open all day, but usually for just a few hours. Some of them sit on very valuable land should the PO be closed, and the property sold. Makes no sense to me to keep all of those tiny POs open.
Deletep.s. Although I agree that these tiny little post offices are not the main reason for the financial problems of the PO.
DeleteIt doesn't seem like the insolvency is really the fault of the small town and rural post offices. A lot of the positions are part time. And temp. I've known people who were temp status employees who waited three or more years for a permanent slot to open up.
DeleteCity mail carriers are paid by the hour. Rural carriers are paid by the route and use their own vehicle. They are often on an on-call basis. One advantage over the city carriers is that they don't walk their routes. A lot of them like their jobs better than the city ones even though they get fewer hours and less pay.
It doesn't seem like the insolvency is really the fault of the small town and rural post offices. A lot of the positions are part time. And temp. I've known people who were temp status employees who waited three or more years for a permanent slot to open up.
DeleteCity mail carriers are paid by the hour. Rural carriers are paid by the route and use their own vehicle. They are often on an on-call basis. One advantage over the city carriers is that they don't walk their routes. A lot of them like their jobs better than the city ones even though they get fewer hours and less pay.
Anne, yes, that does seem a little over the top.
DeleteMy own selfish view is that I like being able to get mail into the mail system same day, even if it is 9:30 in the evening. I do some volunteer work during the evenings which occasionally requires me to mail things out. Waiting one more day until the next daytime pickup doesn't make much difference in some cases, but in other cases it really can make a difference.
I mentioned that I'm reading a multivolume of Lincoln. In his day, the postal system was a big source of federal patronage positions, and federal officials (including the president) had to put up with much lobbying and pestering to fill the positions.
Jim, In G.B. Shaw's day, around the turn of the last century I was astonished to read that he could receive a letter in the morning, reply and have an answer to his reply all in one day. That was London, and the mail was not full of advertisements and begging letters from religious orders, and it probably wouldn't have worked from, say, London to Bath. But still...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn 2006, Congress passed a law to require the USPS to prefund 75 years worth of retiree health benefits in the span of ten years—a cost of approximately $110 billion. Although the money is intended to be set aside for future Post Office retirees, the funds are instead being diverted to help pay down the national debt.
ReplyDeletehttps://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
How Congress Manufactured a Postal Crisis — And How to Fix it
An unprecedented congressional mandate threatens the Postal Service's ability to continue to provide good jobs and universal service.
July 15, 2019
Trump doesn't want to fix it. The inefficiencies suit his re-election fraud strategy, and so don't expect any improvement. After the election, if he holds on he will probably try to privatize it.
DeleteI live in a city of 13,000, completely surrounded by Oakland, CA. We have our own ZIP code and post office (interesting enough it is located in Oakland). Our block+ has had the same mail deliverer for at least 15 years and he has let us know that he will be retiring within the next couple of years. Greg and I took a 30+ day vacation in 2011 and technically the PO wasn't supposed to do a vacation hold for that long, but our guy set the mail aside after 30 days anyway and held it for our return. That was small town, personal service that I was used to when I was growing up in small town Wisconsin in the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteThe USPS workers are suing because of the recent actions taken that slow the mail process - intended to help trump and disenfranchise mailin voters.
ReplyDeletehttps://peoplesworld.org/article/letter-carriers-union-files-nationwide-grievance-against-mail-slowdown-scheme/
Looks like this is an action taken by their union. Do they have any recourse if the actions by management violate the terms of their current contract?
Delete