Killing the Post Office, Just in Time for November Elections

"The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people."  39 USC 101.

Two government services/functions mentioned in the Constitution are in the process of being eviscerated by the Trump administration namely the Census and the Post Office.

Disabling the census is a more long term aspiration, involving skewering the count by exempting undocumented immigrants as “persons.” While that effort may ultimately be negated by court rulings, the damage will have already been done.

Republicans are hoping the despair and fear they’ve generated around communicating with the government will enable them to emerge from redistricting the House of Representative seats holding on to their demographic disadvantage.

The more immediate crisis concerns the viability of the U.S. Postal Service in an era where 75% of all Americans are allowed by their states to vote by mail.

USPS is the most popular government agency (91% favorable rating), employs more than 97,000 military veterans and is one of the largest employers of veterans in the country. Sixty percent of its veteran employees have a disability rating, meaning they’d face additional difficulties if cut from the workforce. The agency is one of the leading employers of minorities and women, with minorities comprising 39% and women 40% percent of the workforce. 

The roots of this crisis go back to 2006, when President George Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The short version of why the Post Office is considered “troubled” holds that the law was crafted by enemies of the institution to destroy it from within. 

What gets left out is this measure was considered a common sense notion and supported by both management and labor at the time. None-the-less, when it became obvious this was based on incorrect assumptions, Congress could have re-written the rules. The Republicans in control of the legislative branch from 2010 onward thought differently.

The House voted to repeal the mandate earlier this year with bipartisan support, but it has stalled in the Senate. A $13 billion bailout for USPS was dropped from the first coronavirus bailout bill when President Trump objected and it was replaced with a $10 million loan.

Now President Trump --partly motivated by his visceral dislike of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos-- has installed GOP donor Louis DeJoy as Postmaster, who immediately took on the task of gutting service in the name of austerity.

As Cory Doctorow points out:

• To make things worse, DeJoy has fired and sidelined the country's most knowledgeable and experienced postal execs, annihilating a source of absolutely essential knowledge and expertise.

• Some facts about DeJoy:

• * he and his family have $30-75m invested in USPS competitors

• * he has donated over $1.5m to Trump campaigns

• * his wife is teed up to be Trump's ambassador to Canada

Despite increases in demand driven by COVID-19 measures limiting access to retail in much of the country, DeJoy has eliminated overtime at the USPS. National Public Radio reported this morning on an office in Iowa where sorting machines have been removed.

A newspaper in Illinois reports that mail carriers are being told to deliver Amazon and FedEx packages first, and to leave other mail undelivered if needed.

Small businesses, already impacted by the coronavirus, that depend on mail service are seeing their orders delayed, leading to angry customers.

Like former Trump administration official Nicki Haley:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1292853018698932227?s=20

There are plenty of not-so-privileged people who have real reasons to be angry about the cutbacks in service at the Post Office, especially veterans who get their medications by mail.

From the Kansas City Star:

• Deborah Arnold, a 72-year-old retired teacher who lives in Lee’s Summit, said she began receiving prescriptions through the mail to cut down on potential exposure to COVID-19.

• “Two of them are eye drops that prevent the worsening of my glaucoma and possible blindness, so not going to stop those!“ she said in an email. “Without USPS I’ll be forced to weigh vision vs illness (possibly leading to death). Not a very acceptable choice!”

• The Postal Service delivered 1.2 billion prescriptions in 2019, including close to 100 percent of the prescriptions from the VA, according to the American Postal Workers Union.

• Bob Ritzinger, an 81-year-old Navy Veteran who lives in Higginsville, Missouri, receives prescriptions from the VA through mail for COPD, high blood pressure, hearing loss and back problems. His wife, Janet Ritzinger, 71, said the couple picks them up from a box at their local post office.

• “I can’t imagine us not having a post office here. It just scares the daylights out of me,” she said. “We don’t have to go to the city to get them (the prescriptions). He doesn’t have to pay extra… It’s such a value to a small community.”

Prescriptions and orders from small businesses amount to collateral damage in the administration’s ploy to sabotage November’s elections. 

Trump has turned the long-term, gradual mission of privatization into an immediate disaster, because he fears vote by mail and is looking to undermine safe and accessible voting during the pandemic. 

The Postal Service has informed states that they’ll need to pay first-class 55-cent postage to mail ballots to voters, rather than the normal 20-cent bulk rate. This nearly triples the per-ballot cost at a time when tens of millions more will be delivered. 

There is still time for public reaction to reverse some of the damage being done. Democrats in the House have called DeJoy to testify and are making the delays an issue in coronavirus stimulus negotiations.

As the empty promises of the administration’s executive order and memorandums concerning interim aid to the American people become obvious, it will be important to remember the post office when expressing our displeasure.

Save USPS via Direct Message on Twitter or Instagram:

Or text 50409

Or Write Your Senators: https://www.apwu.org/savepostoffice

***

The Russians are already winning.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1293238349671604224?s=20

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