Saturday, August 01, 2020

Will Changes At Postal Service Affect 2020 Election? Worries Mount On Cost-Cutting Moves


By Marcy Kreiter @marcykreiter
08/01/20

VIDEO
Early Voting, Vote By Mail And Absentee Voting: Terms Explained As Election Day Draws Near

KEY POINTS
Unlike other government agencies, the postal service does not receive any tax dollars for its operations

The agency is carrying some $161 billion in debt and is restricted by law against skimping on pension and healthcare payments

The new postmaster general is a former logistics executive who wants to transform the postal service into a business


Cost-cutting moves at the U.S. Postal Service are slowing deliveries, which could keep millions of Americans from getting their mail-in ballots in time for the November election.

President Trump has attacked the postal service for losing money on package deliveries, especially those sent by Amazon and other e-commerce giants.

In April, when online shopping surged because of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump called the agency “a joke" and bashed Amazon for pushing it even deeper into the red. He blocked a $10 billion congressionally approved emergency loan for the postal service, which ordinarily receives no taxpayer dollars, and promised to put the kibosh on other loans unless package delivery rates quadruple.

A month later, Trump tapped Louis DeJoy, a former logistics executive and a major donor to Trump's 2016 campaign, to be the nation's 75th postmaster general. DeJoy's mission was to fill the agency's coffers.

The postal service's money problems aren't anything new. The agency hasn't seen a profit since 2006 yet nine out of 10 Americans consistently give it a favorable rating, according to the Pew Research Center.
THE CAUSE OF THIS WAS A REPUBLICAN BILL UNDER BUSH
The agency is carrying some $161 billion in debt, a chunk that by law must go for employee pensions and healthcare payments. The Government Accounting Office has even gone so far as to recommend that Congress reassess what delivery services the nation really needs and how those services should be paid for.

To start whittling down that debt, Dejoy cut overtime. He ordered carriers to hold off sorting mail — a task that used to be done in morning — until after they finished their routes. That switch has backed up all deliveries, even express mail, by one and two days.

The postal service spent $2.9 billion in delivery overtime and penalty overtime in fiscal 2019, plus $1.1 billion in mail processing overtime and penalty overtime, and $280 million in late and extra transportation.


In a memo to workers, DeJoy was forthright about his mission to make the postal service financially solvent and was clear the mail just won't get delivered if the agency had to pay overtime to make that happen.
“One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that – temporarily – we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks,” he wrote.

Route changes and an assortment of issues also have exacerbated delays, reports showed.

The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, an industry advocacy group, theorizes that the delays could dissipate, “but we’re worried if there’s no real time to sort, and no overtime, then there could be a cumulative, growing impact,” said Arthur Sackler, the coalition's manager.

“If they're talking about delaying mail, if they're talking about sending letter carriers out to the street, even if the truck is late, that means there's a lot of first-class mail that's going to be left on the workroom floor. And there's an almost cavalier attitude about this,” Philip Rubio, a history professor at North Carolina A&T State University and a former letter carrier, told NPR.

The National Association of Letter Carriers objected to the changes, which went into effect July 25 for 60 days at a number of test sites. The union maintains the changes do not comply with union handbook provisions.

Mark Dimondstein, national president of the American Postal Workers Union, told the Intercept the changes are aimed at remaking the culture of the postal service.

“The culture I grew up with, and of generations before me, is that you never leave mail behind. You serve the customer, you get mail to the customer. Prompt, reliable and efficient,” he said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the changes would be “drastic” in a normal year and worried about the impact on mail-in voting.

“In a presidential election year when many states are relying heavily on absentee mail-in ballots, increases in mail delivery timing would impair the ability of ballots to be received and counted in a timely manner – an unacceptable outcome for a free and fair election,” Maloney wrote in a letter to DeJoy.

Trump, who is trailing in polls to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, has been made statements that undermine the integrity of the election, even suggesting the postal service cannot be trusted to deliver ballots. He floated the idea Thursday of postponing the election until danger from the coronavirus pandemic has passed.

“I’m actually terrified to see election season under the new procedure,” Lori Cash, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 183 in Western New York, told the Washington Post.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., told the Post that attacks on the postal service “not only threaten our economy and the jobs of 600,000 workers. With our states now reliant on mail voting to continue elections during the pandemic, the destabilizing of the post office is a direct attack on American democracy itself.”

Could Virus Crisis Kill Debt-laden US Postal Service?



By Susan STUMME
04/17/20 

For many Americans, checking the mailbox is a daily ritual, a constant in a quickly changing world that can yield anything from wedding invitations to tax audits to new clothes.

But as with many ordinary things as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, the US Postal Service -- already compromised by a mountain of debt -- has a most uncertain future.

"Unless Congress and the White House provide meaningful relief in the next stimulus bill, the Postal Service could cease to exist."

So how did an agency that traces its origins back to the Continental Congress in 1775, and counts Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general, find itself being derided by President Donald Trump as a "delivery boy" for Amazon?

The answer is cloaked in a swirl of past budget decisions, consumer shifts toward a digital world, a crisis-induced drop in volume and good old-fashioned political infighting.


The US Postal Service is a mainstay of American life but has struggled to remain profitable in the age of digital communications -- and because of accumulated debt Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB

From its beginnings in Philadelphia, through the 19th century Pony Express era, to its modern iconic white vans and blue uniforms, the postal service has been an American mainstay.

Among its famous alumni are aviator Charles Lindbergh, actor Rock Hudson, novelist William Faulkner and hotel magnate Conrad Hilton.

Zip codes for each city, town and village were only introduced in the 1960s, but some have become pop culture touchstones -- most people know that Beverly Hills, California is 90210.

The US Postal Service has boosted package deliveries in recent years to make money, but it is still in deep financial trouble Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB

Before the pandemic sent volume tumbling, more than 180 million pieces of first-class mail were processed and delivered each day on average, according to USPS data.


"The mail is so important to American families," says Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

So what happened?

US Postmaster General Megan Brennan says the Postal Service expects to lose $13 billion in revenue this fiscal year alone as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB
Over the years, the service accumulated a veritable mountain of debt -- $160.9 billion, as of the end of 2019.

That is primarily due to a legally mandated need to pre-pay retirement benefits for its more than 600,000 workers, but other factors are in play.
The advent of the digital age has blunted the USPS's mission -- why send a thank you note when an e-card or text message will do?

For younger generations, buying stamps is as foreign as using a telephone to actually talk to someone.

US President Donald Trump and many of his fellow Republicans want to see the Postal Service privatized to a large extent Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB

So in recent years, it boosted its package deliveries, taking on mega-clients such as Amazon. But it kept bleeding money.

And then, the coronavirus crisis brought mass mailings -- catalogs, coupons and the like -- to a grinding halt. Sales of postal products and services plummeted.

Postmaster General Megan Brennan told lawmakers last week that the USPS expects to lose $13 billion in revenue this fiscal year alone as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis.

"The sudden drop in mail volumes, our most profitable revenue stream, is steep and may never fully recover," she said in a video briefing.

However, as the US government unveils massive stimulus packages to help a host of industries, the postal service is not exactly on Trump's A-list.

Trump has repeatedly said the cost of shoring up the agency should fall to its deep-pocketed clients such as Amazon, not the government.

Under aid packages passed by Congress so far, the postal service has been given a $10 billion loan, pending Treasury approval.

But officials and many Democrats say it's not nearly enough.

Brennan asked lawmakers for up to $89 billion to weather the storm.

Lawmakers cite the service's delivery of medications to rural areas -- and its possible key role in November's presidential election thanks to mail-in ballots -- as reason enough to help.

"USPS workers have risked their own health to ensure America keeps running" during the crisis, Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, using the #SaveThePostOffice hashtag.

New Jersey lawmaker Bill Pascrell chimed in, calling the USPS an "engine for our elections" and the need to save it "nonnegotiable."

But Trump and many Republicans want to see the USPS privatized to a large extent -- and are not keen to offer a more costly lifeline.


"They lose money every time they deliver a package for Amazon or these other internet companies," Trump told reporters this month.

"And if they'd raise the prices by actually a lot, then you'd find out that the post office could make money or break even. But they don't do that. And I'm trying to figure out why."

For Mark Dimondstein, the head of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents some 200,000 members, the government needs to do more.

"We do our job. Congress and the administration need to do theirs," Dimondstein said.
Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.

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