USPS: 'It's Going To Delay The Mail' Fight Over DeJoy 10 Yr Austerity Plan, Slash Jobs, Close Sorting Ctrs

[appalachiablue]

- The Guardian, Dec. 15, 2023. 'It’s going to delay the mail’: the fight over Louis DeJoy’s USPS plan.' Ed. - Trump’s postmaster general appointee is implementing a 10-year austerity plan that will slash jobs and close sorting centers. 📬

More than 500,000 workers at the US Postal Service (USPS) will be handling billions of deliveries through the holidays. For hundreds of them, this may be their last Christmas at their current mail sorting facility and workers are warning the impact on consumers will be severe. The appointee as postmaster general under Donald Trump, Louis DeJoy, is currently implementing a 10-year “Delivering for America” austerity plan that will slash jobs and close sorting centers.

The plan is being implemented amid calls to have DeJoy ousted from the post and, in a rare instance of bipartisan unity, both Republican and Democratic officials have recently criticized DeJoy over the consolidation of USPS facilities – a move DeJoy claims will transform the USPS network for the better. Only the postal board of governors has the authority to remove DeJoy from his position, but the Biden administration has delayed nominating replacements to the board.

This has left DeJoy secure in his position for the time being as a petition with more than 40,000 signatures is circulating to call on Biden to appoint 2 replacements to the board. Currently 30 mail processing facilities in the US are under review for consolidation. An average rate of 25 jobs would be lost per consolidation while hundreds of other workers would be forced to relocate, & local residents would be left with slower mail services.

That number of consolidations is expected to climb to 400 sorting and delivery facilities under DeJoy’s plan.

One of the facilities under review in Lehigh Valley, PA, would shift mail processing services to Harrisburg, PA, 90 miles away – a move postal workers and union officials have criticized. In WV, workers & both US senators, Democrat Joe Manchin & Republican Shelley Moore Capito, have expressed concerns over plans to consolidate a mail sorting facility in South Charleston, moving the mail sorting and 800 jobs out of state to PA... - More,
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/15/usps-job-layoff-mail-service-delay-louis-dejoy

[pwb]

1. The Postal Service treats people like shit.

Good pay and benefits are a trap. High pressure from the boss who was promoted because they sucked at doing the job.

[appalachiablue]

2. Wherever I've lived, the Postal Service has been good, from

Post Office staff to letter carriers, efficient and helpful although the changes under DeJoy are adding stress I'm sure. All to privatize the USPS for profit. A real shame.

[mopinko]

3. my mail service is better lately

but most of last yr i got mail once a WEEK. in a city neighborhood. there’ve been complaints all over the city. have gone through at least 4 carriers on this route since 20.

i’d like to see a map of the closures. i’d bet a good bit that they will reduce service to poor areas. they didnt throw darts at a map.

eta- 1 of the branches here, in a very poor hood, of course, is well know as an absolute lunatic asylum.
u go in there, and the staff is cursing at each other, w a running commentary dissing their co-workers to the customers. been like that for YEARS.

[Lonestarblue]

4. Republicans, and possibly Democrats too, see the USPS as adding debt instead of being a service our taxes pay for.

I’ve never heard any member of Congress demand they the Department of Defense or any other government agency show a profit.

[drmeow]

5. Our taxes don't pay for USPS

Republicans hate it because it is the most democratic institution in this country. EVERYONE no matter what SES, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, etc., can get a letter mailed for exactly the same cost.

[appalachiablue]

6. Good point, thanks.

[Midnight Writer]

7. The government agency with broad public support and is not paid for with tax dollars.

Of course the Party of "Government Is Your Enemy" has to destroy it.

[FakeNoose]

8. There's an easy solution ... Louis DeJoy HAS TO GO!

If the Postal Service is failing (it's not) then he's the one that messed it up.
Fire his ass and replace him with someone who can do the job.