The odds are that in recent months you have received a late check or a belated birthday card, or maybe questioned why that bill you mailed arrived after the past-due date. And you might have wondered just what is going on at the U.S. Postal Service.
Judging from letters to the editor sent to The Columbian — several have been published — people have noticed a slowdown in mail delivery. And judging from media reports, the problem is not limited to the Northwest; it is occurring throughout the nation.
The reason is neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night. Instead, the delays rest with efforts from the Trump administration to undermine a federal agency that has faithfully served Americans since 1775.
In normal times, this would be an annoyance worthy of a Congressional investigation. But now, during a pandemic and with an election coming up, it is a national crisis. As Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., noted last week, the postal service is “an indispensable component of our election infrastructure, as our state proved just days ago. Any steps that could delay mail or otherwise impact these functions are simply unacceptable.”
They are, indeed, unacceptable. And they are representative of how President Trump is dismantling the administrative state.
Many Americans see that as a feature rather than a bug. That is their prerogative, and Trump did, after all, win the Electoral College in 2016. But it is instructive to examine one example of how the president is chipping away at the norms of a functioning society.
In May, the Postal Service Board of Governors — all appointed by Trump — announced Louis DeJoy as the new Postmaster General. He became the first Postmaster General in more than 20 years to not have previous Postal Service experience. DeJoy is a Republican Party fundraiser who has donated more than $1.5 million to Trump’s presidential campaigns for 2016 and 2020.
According to financial disclosures, DeJoy and his wife have more than $30 million invested in XPO Logistics, a Postal Service contractor. In June, he divested more than $100,000 in Amazon stock, but also purchased options allowing him to invest in the future at a lower price. President Trump — who often has expressed enmity for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — has claimed the Postal Service should charge Amazon more in shipping fees; now DeJoy has incentive to adversely impact Amazon’s stock price. DeJoy also has as much as $300,000 invested in the Postal Service’s major competitor, UPS.
DeJoy instituted new guidelines for postal service employees, including eliminating overtime; previously, mail carriers would work overtime if required to finish their day’s rounds. He also reassigned or displaced 23 senior USPS officials, including the top two executives in charge of day-to-day operations. And in Washington, according to The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, letters and “flats” — magazines and large envelopes — originating in Yakima, Wenatchee and Tacoma will no longer be processed in those cities, instead being routed to Spokane or Seattle.
The goal of all this is not to make the financially troubled Postal Service more efficient; it is to undermine an agency that delivers more than 400 million pieces of mail each day. And it likely is not a coincidence that these actions arrive at a time when more Americans than ever are planning to vote by mail in the presidential election.
Yes, there are reasons for the perceived slowdown in mail delivery. Americans voted for it in 2016.
