Save the US Postal Service

[RTH10260]

The Postal Service is slowing the mail to save money. Critics say it's a death spiral
October 8, 2021 5:00 AM ET

BRIAN NAYLOR

The Postal Service says the predicted slowdown is caused in part by the agency's decision to rely less on moving mail by air and more by ground transportation.

Maybe you've noticed the birthday card that arrived belatedly or the check in the mail that didn't pay your credit card quite on time. It's not your imagination. The mail has definitely gotten less speedy.

The U.S. Postal Service began slowing deliveries of first-class mail nationwide on Oct. 1.

The price of a stamp went up in August — from 55 cents to 58 cents — and additionally, temporary holiday price increases for packages and other mail are now in effect.

It all spells trouble for the agency, says Porter McConnell, co-founder of the Save the Post Office Coalition, an organization of progressive political and consumer groups.

People will use the Postal Service less, revenue will decline and then they'll need to make more cuts. So essentially, you're sending the post office into a death spiral.

"Every postal expert in the country and across the globe really knows that you don't slow down service and raise prices at the same time and expect customers to stick around," McConnell tells NPR. "People will use the Postal Service less, revenue will decline and then they'll need to make more cuts. So essentially, you're sending the post office into a death spiral."




https:// www.npr.org/2021/10/08/1044016873/posta ... save-money

[raison de arizona]

Tell President Biden: to save the USPS, replace Ron Bloom

Ron Bloom, the chair of the USPS Board of Governors—the body with the power to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—is up for reappointment. President Biden must replace him.

Ron Bloom has defended DeJoy as he’s undermined public trust in the postal service. Bloom backed DeJoy even as he acted to apparently jeopardize the postal service’s plans to ensure that voting by mail would not be threatened during the pandemic. Since Bloom became the board’s chair, DeJoy has introduced a ten year plan to slow mail and increase prices and has come under federal investigation for an alleged straw donor scheme. The United States Postal Service also seriously mismanaged DeJoy’s conflicts of interest from the start, creating an exceedingly high risk of him violating criminal conflict of interest laws.

Despite these serious threats to the Postal Service and mail delivery, Bloom did nothing to intervene and publicly supported DeJoy’s plan.

Ron Bloom also has his own conflicts of interest—DeJoy reportedly bought $305,000 in bonds from Bloom’s investment firm.

The chair of the USPS Board of Governors is meant to make decisions that will protect the postal service and help it to best serve the American people. Ron Bloom has not done this. To protect the USPS, Biden must replace Ron Bloom, and the USPS Board of Governors must fire Louis DeJoy.

Petition and references here: https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/ ... ron-bloom/

[raison de arizona]

► Show Spoiler

[qbawl]

A friend mailed 2 cards to me on 4 Nov. They were both mailed at the same time and place a city 50 miles away. I received one on the 8th and the other got to me yesterday (16 Nov) postmarked 4 Nov from a city 100 miles away. I blame Obama™!

[MN-Skeptic]

This needs to be categorized as a supply chain issue and elevated to a high priority for fixing.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... oom-dejoy/

President Biden is expected to announce Friday that he will not renominate Ron Bloom, the chair the U.S. Postal Service board and a key ally of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, when his term expires next month, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

The move casts doubt on DeJoy’s future at the agency, the people said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The decision potentially gives liberals on the panel another crucial vote to oust the postmaster general, who can only be removed by the board of governors. The nine-member board currently comprises four Democrats, four Republicans and one independent, though Biden has only appointed three members.

[Slim Cognito]

It may be too little too late, but it did make me smile.

[RVInit]

[Azastan]

Most USPS employees are happy about this turn of events.

[Volkonski]

[AndyinPA]

The Senate isn't exactly moving on confirmations in a timely manner.

[pipistrelle]

“My constituents are complaining about medications not arriving on time, checks not arriving on time – my own daughter had a very important piece of mail being sent by the school district three miles away and it took 12 days to get here. So everybody’s experiencing this and this has to change right away.”

[sugar magnolia]

“My constituents are complaining about medications not arriving on time, checks not arriving on time – my own daughter had a very important piece of mail being sent by the school district three miles away and it took 12 days to get here. So everybody’s experiencing this and this has to change right away.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi quote.

[MN-Skeptic]

With a great deal of trepidation, I mailed three packages at the post office on Wednesday. I was told that they should arrive on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the package to western Michigan was delivered today in the early afternoon - three Christmas piano books for my sister. How can you have a piano and not have several Christmas piano books?

[Slim Cognito]

I stupidly mailed (priority) a trade- in I-phone when I bought the new 13. I didn't realize I could have dropped it off in person at a store. I was to get a $200 credit. The phone made it to a distribution center in TX where it sat for over a week, as T Mobile kept sending me reminder emails. I had proof I'd mailed the phone, plus every place it landed each evening, including the distribution ctr. It finally showed up Wednesday. I got my credit.

[noblepa]

Dejoy seems to be operating under the delusion that the best way to improve profitability is to raise prices and cut service.

That seldom works.

A few years ago, when I was doing a fair amount of selling on eBay, a small flat-rate priority mail box cost $5-6. Now it costs $16 and their on-time delivery record seems to be deteriorating.

I couldn't understand when, last year (or was it the year before?), at the height of the Christmas mailing season, Dejoy chose to decommission a bunch of sorting machines. Now, I can understand shutting them down. That would save on personnel costs to operate them, electricity and perhaps maintenance costs. But, during peak periods, they could be fired up to help with the extra load, like the millions of Christmas cards that are mailed every year.

But Dejoy chose to have them dismantled and sold. Now, there aren't many organizations that need the kind of specialized sorting machines that USPS uses, so they were probably sold for scrap. They probably didn't get very much for them.

I don't usually attribute Snidely Whiplash type villainous thoughts to people, but I'm beginning to believe that Dejoy wakes up every morning, consciously thinking "what can I do today to destroy the USPS?". I believe his goal is to make USPS so unprofitable, so unreliable that Congress will decide to sell the remnants to UPS or FedEx.

[RTH10260]

But Dejoy chose to have them dismantled and sold. Now, there aren't many organizations that need the kind of specialized sorting machines that USPS uses, so they were probably sold for scrap. They probably didn't get very much for them.

IIRC the machines were ordered destroyed, and when the public outcry came the parts were in such a shape that the machines could not be reassambled. AKA scrap and probably sold at a premium as metal is now a scarce resource.

[pipistrelle]

Dejoy seems to be operating under the delusion that the best way to improve profitability is to raise prices and cut service.

That seldom works.

A few years ago, when I was doing a fair amount of selling on eBay, a small flat-rate priority mail box cost $5-6. Now it costs $16 and their on-time delivery record seems to be deteriorating.

I couldn't understand when, last year (or was it the year before?), at the height of the Christmas mailing season, Dejoy chose to decommission a bunch of sorting machines. Now, I can understand shutting them down. That would save on personnel costs to operate them, electricity and perhaps maintenance costs. But, during peak periods, they could be fired up to help with the extra load, like the millions of Christmas cards that are mailed every year.

But Dejoy chose to have them dismantled and sold. Now, there aren't many organizations that need the kind of specialized sorting machines that USPS uses, so they were probably sold for scrap. They probably didn't get very much for them.

I don't usually attribute Snidely Whiplash type villainous thoughts to people, but I'm beginning to believe that Dejoy wakes up every morning, consciously thinking "what can I do today to destroy the USPS?". I believe his goal is to make USPS so unprofitable, so unreliable that Congress will decide to sell the remnants to UPS or FedEx.

Well, there was this theory since they handled envelopes. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/21/politics ... index.html

[noblepa]

But Dejoy chose to have them dismantled and sold. Now, there aren't many organizations that need the kind of specialized sorting machines that USPS uses, so they were probably sold for scrap. They probably didn't get very much for them.

IIRC the machines were ordered destroyed, and when the public outcry came the parts were in such a shape that the machines could not be reassambled. AKA scrap and probably sold at a premium as metal is now a scarce resource.

Even if they got a premium price for scrap metal, I'm sure that they got nowhere near what the machines cost originally or what they would cost to replace.

I just thought it was stupid to dismantle and dispose of them. Shut them off to save operating costs, but keep them around for peak periods. But not Dejoy.

There might be something to the idea that he did it to disrupt the processing of mail-in ballots. I wouldn't put it past him.

[RTH10260]

But Dejoy chose to have them dismantled and sold. Now, there aren't many organizations that need the kind of specialized sorting machines that USPS uses, so they were probably sold for scrap. They probably didn't get very much for them.

IIRC the machines were ordered destroyed, and when the public outcry came the parts were in such a shape that the machines could not be reassambled. AKA scrap and probably sold at a premium as metal is now a scarce resource.

Even if they got a premium price for scrap metal, I'm sure that they got nowhere near what the machines cost originally or what they would cost to replace.

I just thought it was stupid to dismantle and dispose of them. Shut them off to save operating costs, but keep them around for peak periods. But not Dejoy.

There might be something to the idea that he did it to disrupt the processing of mail-in ballots. I wouldn't put it past him.

I understand that these machines were made to specification of the USPS. They are "unreplacable" aka would need to be rebuilt from scratch according to original construction plans (if they still exist).

[keith]

There might be something to the idea that he did it to disrupt the processing of mail-in ballots. I wouldn't put it past him.

It was nakedly obvious to me. That and the war on Christmas.

[pipistrelle]

Oooooh. Podcast with DeJoy. Enjoy.

9119D0AD-6C79-4234-A8F1-C3355989DCF9.png (146.71 KiB) Viewed 1254 times

[raison de arizona]

[Volkonski]

Geoff Bennett
@GeoffRBennett
·
24m
NEWS: The US Postal Service has new governing leadership. Roman Martinez IV was unanimously elected today by his fellow governors to serve as the 25th chairman of the Board of Governors. The board also unanimously elected Anton G. Hajjar to serve as vice chairman. #USPS

[Volkonski]

Activists protested outside the United States Postal Service headquarters in DC Wednesday afternoon to demand the firing of USPS Postmaster Louis DeJoy.

They say his tenure has hurt the performance of First-Class mail in particular, which is critical to mail-in voting. https://t.co/piOnKpi2dt