Trump Destroying Post Office to Win Election

[Section31]

Trump Destroying Post Office to Win Election

Cancel Christmas.

[Standing Wolf]

I hadn't seen other threads on this. I didn't attribute it to TDS. The delays in mail here has been for years, not recent. The US mail is atrocious here. Just atrocious. None of this to me attributes it to an effort do anything -- because the mail has been atrocious for the past 10-12+ years. The thing financially was circling the drain and without changes, it will - unless Congress bails it out which I don't have an appetite for - unless there's real structural changes. It's been that way for a long time. Never let a crisis go to waste - help us survive and blame the virus.

I will review it.

My family source has been a mail carrier for 22 years and has never seen anything like the top-down, manufactured debacle that is currently taking place.

[MisterVeritis]

The new Trump Postmaster General appointee is sabotaging the election. There is no denying it any more.


Ever wondered what the death of democracy looks like? Look no further, we're here. This is a real step towards it's demise. If you compare crippling the Post Office to delaying elections, it doesn't look so bad. That's why Trump floated delaying the election.

Like it or not, more people will be voting using mail than ever before. So how can you worsen a proper vote count? Slow mail service down. Thirty-two states do not accept mailed ballots after election day, even if postmarked. Yet, with less than 90 days to go until the election, Trump’s newly appointed Postmaster General is implementing astonishing restrictions at a time when we need the post office the most. Since Trump appointed him on June 15 he has done some obvious things to prevent votes from getting counted...


Saturday Night massacre at the post office. He immediately fired 23 of the top post office lieutenants who presumably would have pushed back on the major sweeping changes he had in mind.

Ballots no longer get first class treatment. It is the longstanding practice of the post office to treat political mail as first class mail. This practice has now been cancelled. Now the post office is treating it like bulk rate mail. Bulk rate mail gets lower priority and gets thrown in the garbage if it does not go out in time. Also political mail no longer gets logged as before. As one postal worker said: “Now, we are recycling political mail.” --WAPO

Eliminated over time work crippling the efficiency and causing mail to pile up. This means that bulk rate mail will get thrown out more often

Nearly tripled the cost of election mail from 20 cents to 55 cents.


If you are one of those people who still thinks mailed ballots are a problem, consider whether preventing massive amounts of votes from ever getting counted will make the count more, or less accurate.

The post office should have a tiny role to play, correctly delivering absentee ballots.

[Peter1469]

It should noted that the post office has been forced by law to pre fund their pension for 70 years. This is a restriction that no other government agency has. This is an obvious burden on their financials. 70 years! That means they are currently funding the pension of future employees who have not even been born yet.

Link?

And most local and state pension funds will fail.

[carolina73]

I am looking out my window north on Main Street in Akron. I mailed a settlement check to a lawyer who's office is in a building I can see at this moment, maybe 6-8 blocks away. It took 7 days to get there. 7. I mailed a settlement check to a lawyer in Fairlawn, 12 miles away. It took 9 days to get there. 9. This is an atrociously run company - this post office. Now, I just have my law clerk deliver local settlement checks.

I would not use Covid-19 to bail it out, which I understand is what the fight is about. Twisting that to 'Trump's trying to destroy the US Mail to steal the election' - is not something even the WAPO said in its article.

That is exactly what this is all about. They want a 25 billion dollar bailout and are willing to create chaos to get it. The elections is nothing compared to the Christmas season.

Cut them back to every other day delivery and stop the ultra local bulk rates for junk mail.

[TheLiquidGuy]

Link?

And most local and state pension funds will fail.

I was going from memory and got a few things wrong. its 75 years, not 70. And its health benefits, not pension.


https://theweek.com/articles/930312/...steal-election"

in 2006 Congress clapped the agency with an absurd requirement that it had to pre-fund its retiree health benefits 75 years out — meaning it had to set health care money aside for future employees who weren't even born yet. This drove it immediately into deficit, where it has largely remained for the past 14 years. "





​And it is ubsurd.

[Standing Wolf]

That is exactly what this is all about. They want a 25 billion dollar bailout and are willing to create chaos to get it. The elections is nothing compared to the Christmas season.

Cut them back to every other day delivery and stop the ultra local bulk rates for junk mail.

So they would have half the time to deliver the same amount of mail? As for junk mail, despite the low cost of mailing it, that service is responsible for the lion's share of all postal revenue.

[Peter1469]

I was going from memory and got a few things wrong. its 75 years, not 70. And its health benefits, not pension.


https://theweek.com/articles/930312/...steal-election"

in 2006 Congress clapped the agency with an absurd requirement that it had to pre-fund its retiree health benefits 75 years out — meaning it had to set health care money aside for future employees who weren't even born yet. This drove it immediately into deficit, where it has largely remained for the past 14 years. "





​And it is ubsurd.

OK, so are their pensions going to fail like more state and local pensions?

Do you know where they go after they fail? To the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Then you are going to get around 30% of the pension that you planned for.

[Jen]

Democrats seem to be foaming at the mouth that their USPS plan to win the election by fraud is failing.

[TheLiquidGuy]

OK, so are their pensions going to fail like more state and local pensions?

Do you know where they go after they fail? To the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Then you are going to get around 30% of the pension that you planned for.

I do not know what your point is.


My only point is that the post office has been given undue burden by being required to divert their profits to 75 years of pre-paid health benefits. Many, including myself, believe this is an attempt to render the post office unstable and make up an excuse to privatize it.