The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing backlogs of mail after a top Trump donor running....

[steve2470]

WaPo: The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing backlogs of mail after a top Trump donor running the agency put in place new procedures, alarming postal workers who warn that the policies could undermine their ability to deliver ballots on time.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/postal-service-backlog-sparks-worries-that-ballot-delivery-could-be-delayed-in-november/2020/07/30/cb19f1f4-d1d0-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html

The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing days-long backlogs of mail across the country after a top Trump donor running the agency put in place new procedures described as cost-cutting efforts, alarming postal workers who warn that the policies could undermine their ability to deliver ballots on time for the November election.

As President Trump ramps up his unfounded attacks on mail balloting as being susceptible to widespread fraud, postal employees and union officials say the changes implemented by Trump fundraiser-turned-postmaster general Louis DeJoy are contributing to a growing perception that mail delays are the result of a political effort to undermine absentee voting.

The backlog comes as the president, who is trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the polls, has escalated his efforts to cast doubt about the integrity of the November vote, which is expected to yield record numbers of mail ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, Trump floated the idea of delaying the Nov. 3 general election, a notion that was widely condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike. He has repeatedly gone after the Postal Service, recently suggesting that the agency cannot be trusted to deliver ballots.

[dalton99a]

1. Anything and everything to rig the election

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Not to mention that delivering bills paid by mail on time.

Late fees and interest on credit card balances can't be ruled out.

[Delmette2.0]

22. That is my concern for the moment!

The banks, utilities all need to complain to the new Post Master. What a shit show, they never consider other problems.

[PatSeg]

36. And delivery delays

will adversely affect many businesses that rely on the USPS to deliver their merchandise to customers and in turn affect an already struggling economy. Online retailers are among the few who are doing well during this pandemic. Trump is undercutting his own economy, which is what he is trying to run on.

I posted yesterday that I am waiting for a package that has been sitting in the same postal facility now for nine days in the town a few miles from here. Usually if a package shows up at that facility, it will be delivered the same day or the next at the latest.

Some people say they have canceled orders because of the severe delays. The repercussions are staggering. How much can this man destroy in a short period of time?

[moonscape]

44. You're so right! I have all my bills on auto-pay by check and

now need to monitor them. For years I haven't given them a second thought but now ...

What a cluster.

[Turbineguy]

3. Jes' doin' his job for Uncle Vlad.

[C_U_L8R]

4. What's the penalty for interfering with an election?

Or simply interfering with the mail?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. "Penalty"? You mean "Reward".

There's a "free" lunch and round of golf in there

[phylny]

6. I signed up for "Informed Delivery" which shows me what mail is coming each day.

Yesterday, I was to get three pieces of mail: Two that I recognized as cards, and one bill. Nothing came. I was able to note on the website that I didn't receive them.

What I can't understand is this: If an order comes down to slow down the mail, why would postal workers do it? It's only going to backlog them and create more work.

I will add that Trump's administration closed down our Roanoke sorting center, so now all our mail from Bedford County, Virginia goes to Greensboro, NC, about 100 miles and 2 hours away, instead of to Roanoke, VA, 26 miles and 45 minutes away. So, if I send a letter to myself, it'll take at least two days to get here.

[pnwmom]

23. They're not going to be paid overtime any more for working overtime. That would be a disincentive.nt

[leftieNanner]

24. If your supervisor tells you to do something

And you don't want to lose your job, you do it. That goes all the way up the food chain. Unless we have a large number of supervisors who are willing to buck the system, it's done.

As far as I understand, it's a money issue. A lot of carriers have to work overtime to get everything done. So the folks upstairs have cancelled all overtime as a "budgetary" issue.

This is so terrible. I can drop off my ballot after I have filled it out - but whether I can actually RECEIVE my ballot in the first place is determined by the USPS.

[Mariana]

29. They aren't going to work for free.

When overtime was eliminated, tasks that had routinely been done by employees working overtime stopped getting done.

[spanone]

7. The very reason said donor was placed in charge of the usps

[crickets]

49. Exactly. nt

[blueinredohio]

8. I believe they're unionized. Why not strike?

A strike would hurt me too. My husband's pension comes through the mail, we pay our bills by mail and we get our medicine through the mail. But this is getting out of hand.

[Midnight Writer]

40. It is illegal for Postal Workers to strike because the work they do is considered "essential".

But it is OK for the President to purposely delay the mail, I guess.

Another silly strategy from Trump, because people will notice right away that their mail is being delayed.

[blueinredohio]

54. Thanks, you learn something new every day.

[MFGsunny]

9. My own righteous indignation at this MF45 maladministration takes me ...

... to quadruple my efforts for GOTV.

We stand united in the civic square.
We shall persist.
We are NOT afraid.
We shall vote.

AND, yes, we shall overcome the current political insanity!

[awesomerwb1]

10. My experience

Sent a small envelope 2 day priority July 14th. Arrived July 27. And that package was to the IRS.

My own cynical theory: creating a bottleneck in the mail system now to have an excuse/justification for October delivery times of 30 days+ blamed on Covid-19.

[Chainfire]

11. This will be know as the no holds barred election

There is no dark path that the President and the Republicans will be unwilling to tread to retain power. If they win, they can clean up the mess and bury the bodies in unmarked graves after the election. The Republicans know that they are one Supreme Court nomination from permanent one party rule, they are going to go all in.

[pandr32]

46. It appears so

We live in terrible times and must find a way out.

[Frustratedlady]

12. So, Trump tweets that mail-in voting is open to fraud, but absentee voting

is good.

Idiot! They are the same.

[Lucinda]

13. KNR

[Thekaspervote]

14. Options: vote early in person or hand carry your mail in ballot to the ballot box

Be sure you where it is to be delivered!!

[roamer65]

15. Many counties/townships have drop off boxes or points.

Use those as well.

I will be dropping mine into my township clerk’s dropbox.

[Luciferous]

27. That's what I'm doing as well. It's also important to request your ballot early.

[leftieNanner]

25. The problem here in Oregon

where we are 100% VBM, is RECEIVING the ballot in the first place. They are mailed to us.

[New Breed Leader]

16. His ass should be hauled before the Senate committee

Make that fucker ADMIT what he's doing and who's telling him to do it.

[ffr]

17. Do anything, say anthing, punish those that stand in his way and reward those

who carry his water. They are at war.

[RT Atlanta]

18. more negligence

[lagomorph777]

33. Not negligence. Deliberate sabotage.

[dreamland]

19. Can postal workers just sort out ballots for delivery first?

I doubt the rumpie-in-charge can dictate which mail to deliver first.

[Nay]

30. Theoretically, yes. Ballots will be first class mail, which is already to be delivered before all

other mail. However, there's a possibility that local communities with plenty of Nazis in and out of the post office can mess with that.

Mr Nay and I are going down to the election office to early vote (first choice) or we're going to stand in line with everyone else on Nov. 3 (2nd choice).

[kimbutgar]

20. Can we go to court and sue?

It is in our constitution and there is no reason for them to slow the mail down.

[jeffreyi]

31. What can we, out here in the peanut gallery, do?

This so freaking obvious.

[jeffreyi]

41. Called my reps.

Gotta try.

[Martin Eden]

21. Can the Postmaster General be impeached?

His actions have to be a breach of the oath he took, if not downright criminal.

[leftieNanner]

28. Isn't he just "acting"

Remember, Trumpy loves "acting" heads of departments and agencies.

Doubt the guy had to take any kind of an oath.

Another thing we have to codify after Ass Face is gone.

[Delmette2.0]

26. There will be a delay in receiving our mail in ballots AND

A delay when we send them back.

[roamer65]

34. If they screw up my mail in ballot, I plan to brave the polls.

I will not give up my chance to vote anti-Repuke.

[Delmette2.0]

51. Make sure your polling place will accept your mail-in ballot.

I live in a small city and can drop into the election office with my ballot.

There are so many places this can be screwed up.

[roamer65]

52. Same here.

My only worry is whether I will get my mail-in ballot in time. If not I’ll vote at the polls on Election Day.

[Rebl2]

32. I have

a package from Etsy I still haven’t received. I contacted the seller telling her I know she mailed it because I got a notification and tracking number. She kindly responded and put the blame on the new post master. She said all overtime is now cut thus slowing down the mail. She encouraged me to contact my representative and senators. I wrote her back and agreed with her and that I would do so for what it is worth. I also said this is going to endanger small businesses like hers on Etsy. I get medication through the mail and I am sure eventually there will be a backlog of it being delivered. I am sick of this sicko president and republicans in general.

[lettucebe]

35. Why would they ever think slowing the postal service is a good idea?

JFC. Apparently they want to privatize the postal service too (like schools), but really, this is truly ignorance at it's best. (I think I'm saying that way too often).

[TeamPooka]

42. Trump and his cronies are scumbags.

[Grammy23]

37. We have gotten no mail for the past two days. In fact, our Ring doorbell camera

Showed the mailman driving by our mailbox without even slowing down. That never happens, We almost always get some kind of mail — junk or otherwise. Not getting anything once or twice a month is the rarity. This week it happened twice. Something is amiss.

In June I ordered something from Amazon. It was shipped and due to be delivered on June 27th. It arrived by UPS in my town and was turned over to the USPS on June 26th, still scheduled for delivery the next day. It was not delivered that day and in fact languished at that PO for two more weeks. This is definitely not the norm for deliveries, in general, and especially so for things ordered from Amazon. In the past we’ve gotten Amazon orders in two days. The order in June, by the way, was for MASKS, a much needed item. And it was from a US company, not from China. So the nearly month long delay was particularly distressing.

[duforsure]

38. This is already backfiring badly for trump ,

especially from the elderly and people needing important things like checks and prescriptions, and this is turning more states bluer. He's self destructing doing this.

[yaesu]

39. I just had a first class package from 1k away arrive in 3 days yet a priority package a state away

is taking 6 days and counting.

[TeamPooka]

43. This is a big campaign ad opportunity. USPS is a big thing for older citizens.

My mom, 87, is obsessed with the mail delivery each day.

[klook]

48. Good idea.

This is ridiculous.

[augyboston]

45. Just more tRump fascist bullshit!!!

This is just more tRump fascist bullshit.

Everyday is more of the same crap from this POS. It's like being the target of some asshole bully in school until you've decided you've had it! The rage swells within you and you reach the point where you know the absolute worst thing possible is to continue to tolerate even one more second of abuse. You grind your teeth and clinch your fists and the anger overrides all fear and you start punching until you are exhausted and have used every last ounce of energy within you. Win, lose or draw you've done your share of damage and the bully knows not to mess with you anymore.

This happened to me in junior high school. I was a little guy and was tormented daily and my life was miserable. I decided during the summer between junior high and high school that I would stand up and fight for myself. I'll never forget that first day at high school. When I arrived sure enough Bully Bill was in my homeroom and started to push me around. I came out of nowhere with a right cross that blackened his left eye and sent him reeling. We went at it for a good ten minutes. I loss the fight, but did my damage and he never bothered me again.

Well, we who believe in democracy and fundamental fairness have got to stand up!

Drive, walk, hitch a ride, crawl if you have to; but get to your town hall and get your ballot; fill it out there and leave it. Stand in line for hours on November 3rd if you have to, but refuse to lose!

Now is the time we stop this madness or the rest of our lives will be spent in misery!

[BlueJac]

47. So the Con man Trump,

Is fucking the Post System up early so the voting process will be delayed to save his Fucking Ass from the ballot box!! He should be charged with obstruction of justice!

[triron]

53. No much worse than that.

[Baked Potato]

50. Piling on the misery.

[ThoughtCriminal]

55. See what holding up Amazon Prime deliveries does for popularity

This is how Trump loses Alabama.

What do you mean I have to wait 10 days for my Turnip-Twaddler?

[Blue Owl]

56. Tampering with mail is illegal

I don’t care who the fuck you are...