Biden inherited a USPS crisis. Here's how Democrats want to fix it.

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/06/usps-biden-democrats-dejoy/

The nation’s mail service is slower and more erratic than it’s been in generations, via the confluence of an abrupt reorganization and pandemic-era anomalies that has fueled demands for reform and fundamentally different ideas on how to achieve it.

On one side is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who, with the backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, is expected as soon as next week to outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations.

But congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline. The fight over the agency’s future is expected to be fraught and protracted, leaving Americans with unreliable mail delivery for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, customers are fuming on social media and to postal workers about late holiday packages and days-long delivery gaps. Only 38 percent of nonlocal first-class mail arrived on time in late December, compared with 92 percent in the year-ago period, according to data reported in federal voting lawsuits. The agency has not disclosed performance data in 2021.

Republican efficiency is breathtaking. I think America has seen enough of how Republicans have "fixed" mail delivery times and service since DeJoy slashed and burned his way through this American institution that people depend on. There's no denying it.

Lots of graphs and more details at the link.

[trueblue2007]

1. de NOT joy needs bo be fired asap

[Andy823]

2. Not only fired

but investigations need to be started on his "destruction" of the postal service.

[questionseverything]

6. Dejoy and the board need fired,investigated and prosecuted

I am not sure what Biden is waiting on

In construction/housing there are still lots of things that need signed and only a physical copy is legal

It has been a nightmare

[C Moon]

26. Trump left a lot of crap to clean up. He'll get to it.

[questionseverything]

29. I am trying to be patient

The delivery of mail is super important to everyday life and the economy

I feel letting dejoy and board stay in power is practically a criminal act in itself, it needs moved up the list now

[C Moon]

35. I hear you on that.

[scarletwoman]

9. The president can't fire the Postmaster General.

The Postmaster General is elected by the Postal Board of Governors, who were all appointed by Trump and rubber stamped the elevation of DeJoy to PMG.

The Board is supposed to have nine members - currently there are six. Biden can appoint members to fill the vacant seats, he can also fire current members "for cause" - and a newly configured board could conceivably elect a new PMG.

The article indicates that at this time, Biden has not shown interest in moving on this particular issue.

[iluvtennis]

21. Keeping my fingers crossed that congressional democrats can get Biden to move on appointing new

board members. Also hope there is something that he could do to incentives fot the board members trump appointed to leave.

[Nasruddin]

23. Paging SecDef Austin

You got it - fire the entire board & start over.

After you've done that, drag DeJoy out by his toenails if necessary. He's a billionaire, he can sue if he doesn't like it, & the first task of the next board is going to be to fire him anyway.

[Grasswire2]

37. Good Lord. Do it yesterday!

DeJoy is a mobster.

Ruining a critical agency, deliberately.

Thinks he's above the law.

[magicarpet]

3. De joy is there to sabotage the USPS,.... end of story.

Bye bye trDump trash. Get lost.

[kurtcagle]

4. I do not see DeJoy lasting another month

Even Republican politicians are getting a lot of heat from their constituents about the mail service, and DeJoy is very rapidly becoming one of the most hated men in America. The problem ultimately comes down to what the best way to deal with him is, as he's in a fixed-term appointment approved through Congress, meaning that he's not in Biden's authority chain for firing. However, I think there is enough concern even among the GOP about the political impact coming back from poor mail service that he may very well be next after Trump to be impeached and convicted, setting him up for a jail term. Given that, DeJoy may very well decide that he'd be better served resigning, if given enough of a push.

[AnnaLee]

5. Should have fired De Joy the first day.

He needs to just find a way to rid himself of the DeJoy plants in the PO. The sooner he does it, the less it is used in the daily spin. This one is a no brainer and is supported by American's who want to get their mail. Don't give it time to become a partisan meme generator.

[obamanut2012]

10. Biden cannot fire him

He isn't a political appointee.

[questionseverything]

31. Then fire him for cause/have him prosecuted for interfering with mail delivery

[obamanut2012]

36. By who? The GOP-majority board that is who has to fire him?

[questionseverything]

38. Then fire the board first but if dejoy is arrested he can hardly serve

[nitpicker]

7. Part of the problem is that it's become the United States Parcel Service

At least at one local post office in Arlington VA.

One has to go there on Sundays to NOT find the morning parking lot jammed with USPS vans loading packages ((and other mail as an aside)).

I think part of it is embedding with package companies to go the last mile.

BUT, IMO, part of the problem is me and ((maybe)) you. I ordered a clothing article this fall online. And I received a book that a friend wrapped and priority-mailed 15 Dec in hopes of getting there in time for Christmas ((usually by Solstice)). It arrived on Twelfth Night. 22 days.

The friend sent me a manila envelope with tracking material to document the ((ODD))yssey. IT took 10 days to arrive.

[nitpicker]

8. I discovered an off-the-path post office in Northern VA

Hidden behind a shopping center.

It has enough space past the "DO NOT ENTER" to hide the vans, that therefore there are open customer parking spots!

[IronLionZion]

12. The one at the postal museum in DC is often pretty empty and open on weekends

they closed the one in my neighborhood for separate reasons due to building construction.

[IronLionZion]

11. People ship more packages during a pandemic

We can't visit loved ones, so we send them care packages, gifts, online purchases, etc. This is predictable and it's been almost a year now.

I don't believe using the USPS more or sending more packages is the problem. DeJoy's cuts in capacity is the problem. Plus sure many postal workers have gotten sick or got fed up and quit so there are fewer of them.

But if the USPS is facing revenue shortfalls, then using them more should help them get more revenue.

The Trump administration did a separate diabolical slowdown at US customs so that international packages were delayed by a month or 2. Tracking numbers would show that packages arrived in the US and just sat in a warehouse in some port city for a month with no movement. It feels deliberate.

[Progressive Jones]

32. Parcel delivery is good revenue for USPS. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

13. My mail is 3 weeks late

Packages seem to move ok, if a few days slower than a year ago, but anything that's a bill, a letter .... weeks late. I had one piece sent to another address, soon all of my mail was going there and then returned to the mainstream flow.

[SunSeeker]

17. That's because DeJoy junked sorting machines which process letters (and ballots!).

https://www.businessinsider.com/usps-will-not-replace-removed-mail-sorting-machines-2020-8

[Hekate]

14. KnR

[SunSeeker]

15. Timely mail is crucial to our economy and our democratic voting processes.

DeJoy MUST GO NOW.

[Klaralven]

16. Packages are the growing business. First class and Marketing Mail are declining

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service today reported its financial results for fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020), as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an unpredictable impact on the economy and the Postal Service.

Operating revenue was $73.1 billion for 2020, an increase of nearly $2.0 billion compared to the prior year, driven by an increase in Shipping and Packages revenue of $5.8 billion, or 25.3 percent. While the Postal Service's results for the first half of 2020 continued prior-year trends, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant shifts in demand affecting all service categories in the second half of the year.

As a result of the pandemic, and to a lesser extent, secular mail declines, the Postal Service’s volume from mail services, its largest sales category, declined significantly for the full year, as First-Class Mail declined 2.3 billion pieces, or 4.2 percent, and Marketing Mail declined 11.5 billion pieces, or 15.2 percent. Mail volume began to show slight improvement in the last few weeks of the year, although this was driven in part by the temporary surge in political and election mail associated with the recent general election cycle.

Package volume grew by nearly 1.2 billion pieces, or 18.8 percent, compared to last year due to the surge in e-commerce. Although package volume growth has recently slowed since its early fourth-quarter peak, the Postal Service believes that consumer behavior has evolved during the pandemic as the nation has increasingly relied on the safety and convenience of e-commerce.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/1113-usps-reports-fiscal-year-2020-results.htm

The decline in Marketing Mail is surprising, but very welcome. First class continues to slide - it is down by half since the peak volume in 2000.

If the Package business weren't growing, they would have to lay off a lot of employees due to shrinking volume and revenues. That would make it even more impossible to fund their retirement benefits.

[Ruby the Liberal]

18. A good start would be rescinding the prefunding that Susan Collins fought for

[qwlauren35]

19. Shame on me.

The article suggests that DeJoy is just trying to do his job.

He can fuck an ostrich and go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

I am annoyed with the Post for saying anything close to positive about him.

If there is one thing that average-Joe/Jane Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that postal service sucks right now, and something needs to be done about it, to make it more reliable in all ways, profitability be damned.

I guess that's the difference between average Joe and our government. Average Joe wants reliability, government wants profitability. Just subsidize the USPS and be done with it. If we can have Medicaid, and SNAP, we can have subsidized USPS.

Socialism at its finest.

Just thinking about this makes my blood boil.

[birdographer]

20. Our PO was dismal before

DeJoy came along, and now is worse. Carriers won't drive 1/10 of a mile up our road to our house to leave a package, I need to go stand in line with a dozen maskless idiots to get my USPS packages. Which I don't do. They return them to sender after 2 weeks. I call the senders (businesses, always) and ask if they can put the $9 t-shirt in, say, an envelope instead of a box that won't fit in my rural mailbox (Lands End, this time). I have become vigilant about not ordering anything that won't fit in an envelope to come UPSPS. We have the largest mailbox on the market. For our first 5 years here all carriers drove that tenth of a mile to leave packages, but no more. So I don't notice a big difference. OTOH, in FL our carrier stole anything that had Etsy on the envelope.

[wryter2000]

22. Fuck DeJoy

Fire the entire board on Monday, then fire DeJoy on Tuesday. Enough!

[Tribetime]

24. I mailed my taxes in in July they just responded to me in late December

That I was missing one form what's a male back in. Now with the delay it shows that I haven't filed taxes yet for 2019 and those no stimulus check

[sandensea]

25. Republicans have, as JFK might put it, Southern efficiency and Northern charm

And that's being generous, since what they have is actual malice.

Bigly.

[barbtries]

27. i think what dejoy did

should be a felony. there oughta be a law, if there isn't.

isn't sabotage illegal?!

[Rebl2]

28. Dejoy should have

already been fired. Fire him for poor performance and get rid of most if not all the postal board.

[Sogo]

30. Dems need to fix this in a big way, and then

shout it from the rooftops, which would be enough to carry them all the way to victories in 2022 and 2024. The USPS is that popular with the American people....

[devans00]

33. Rewarded for Sabotage

The most infuriating thing about the article is that DeJoy seems to be rewarded for destruction of functional equipment in pursuit of sabotaging USPS efficiency. I didn’t see anything about financial restitution to US taxpayers.

2nd, USPS customer wants are low priority, less important. We want reliable, optimized letter and package delivery service. Everything else is secondary. As long as Congress can casually drop billions of dollars on “defense”, the government can prop up the postal service as long as it takes. It’s how Americans want our tax dollars spent.

[IronLionZion]

34. Service cuts, Higher prices, Lower expectations

that should be the GOP slogan for what they do to everything they touch.

USPS reform is on Biden's to do list. I understand that COVID and Economy and other issue take precedence but I do hope they fix the postal service soon. They can start by appointing new governors to the board.