Tester demands answers from Postmaster General on reports of mailbox removals

[babylonsister]

Tester demands answers from Postmaster General on reports of mailbox removals
By Jonathan Easley - 08/14/20 11:44 AM EDT


Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) this week sent a letter to Postmaster Louis DeJoy demanding answers about the removal of more than a dozen blue Post Office drop boxes across the state, as Democrats fear the Trump administration is seeking to sabotage the Postal Service ahead of an expected surge in mail voting this November.

In his letter, Tester pointed to media reports and warnings from the Montana Postal Workers Union about the removal and planned removal of drop boxes.

“If true, this seems to be occurring without any transparency or communication with impacted Montanans,” Tester wrote.

“The United States Postal Service plays a critical role in America, and its services are needed now more than ever, particularly in our rural communities where local access to grocery stores, pharmacies, and other essential services are often limited to nonexistent. These reported actions would cause harm to those who rely on the USPS for the delivery of medicine and distribution of benefits.”

Tester said his office has received reports of drop boxes being removed from Bozeman and Lewistown and plans for removals in Billings. He asked DeJoy to respond to these reports by Aug. 18.

more...

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/512031-tester-demands-answers-frompostmaster-general-on-reports-of-mailbox

[MontanaMama]

1. Thank you Senator Tester.

Senator Daines? Waiting on you... Except we know the truth. You’re in on this coup.

[2naSalit]

24. Damn straight.

Our little PO has a part time actuary who also handles the next PO up the valley on alternate hours.

[Blue_true]

31. Who would be hurt most by removal of the boxes? To me, seems that rural people would suffer most. n

[MontanaMama]

39. Most definitely.

I would also think it would hurt folks in urban areas too who might not have a locked drop off spot at their residence. Heck, I use them in a pinch if I don't want to drive to the post office.

[olegramps]

49. My oh My. Another nasty letter. Is that the best they can do?

I just bet he will be very impressed and take immediate action, not. I would suggest showing up at his house with a thousands and thousands of loud angry protestors just might get a better chance of getting his attention.

[LizBeth]

2. I do not know about other states, but from what I hear in Oregon it is because there are so many

boxes and they are not being used, so collecting them is saving PO money so deliverer does not have to have them on the route. I was all in saying Trump pulling up boxes and the outrage, but read my Gov talking and she says as horrible as it is what Trump is doing to the PO, this is not one of the things.

[standingtall]

4. And they couldn't wait until after the Election to remove those mail boxes?

Sorry doesn't add up. Those boxes have been there all this time wouldn't have hurt to leave them there for another 80 plus days.

[LizBeth]

5. So willingly dismiss what is being said, no research, state it doesn't add up, and voila... a CT.

We are better than that. I would love to blame Trump this. I have a picture of the boxes being picked up on my FB with articles of Trump destroying PO. And still, when our vocal Gov who has NEVER stood with Trump and consistently goes after him tells me that it is an excess of boxes, I will take her comment over.... It does not add up. Oregon has been hit hard, they need to cut money spent drastically, and this is a means along with many many others.

We have been voting by mail for 30 yrs. We have drop boxes thru out town and do not have to be dependent on mail, and our Gov is not working with Republicans and Trump.

But hey... It doesn't add up.

[lagomorph777]

6. Doing this at the same time they are removing sorting machines and stopping overtime hours?

Sorry, it doesn't add up to innocent. It's not fiscally relevant that "Oregon has been hit hard." Oregon doesn't fund the USPS (not directly), and the governor's budget is not helped by this move. Of course, it is relevant that Oregonians have been hit hard, and will need extra help to enable voting. By "extra help" I mean "adequate postal services" among other things.

[lagomorph777]

43. So are you still thrilled that Trump has been stealing mailboxes? Still gonna call us Qanon Qrazy?

The jig is up.

[AmyStrange]

12. Good question...

-

Liz is probably right about too many postal boxes, but she never answered the question, "Why now?"

That it's being now, along with all that other stuff, is why it's suspicious.
=========

[BannonsLiver]

22. She also doesn't seem to know who operates the postal service

She thinks each state runs their own, apparently. I’m a little suspect of people who have been here for 5 minutes and who completely disregard the fact the interference is happening and then calls people who question them CTers and Qanon followers.

[AmyStrange]

23. I'm all for people ranting and raving, because...

-

sometimes it does help, but the problem is that they mostly tend to rant and rave against the wrong people.
===============

[Blue_true]

32. Maybe the calling out people was over the top, but she has a point about the boxes.

If there are too many, remove some and send people updates on location of remaining boxes.

I have an issue with you calling out a person for being on DU for 6 months. All of us were new at some point. The person in question has been a reasonably active poster and as far as I can tell, is very progressive politically.

[lagomorph777]

45. No, she doesn't have a point. Too MANY mailboxes? Have people been complaining about that?

Gimme a break. And USPS is NOT locally funded! Too many odd things here.

[Crunchy Frog]

47. I sure never posted accusations like that within 6 mos of joining.

[yellowdogintexas]

50. USPS has been removing and relocating those big blue drop boxes for quite some time

It does seem odd to me that more of this is happening now. I do know that the boxes outside the Post Offices are emptied twice daily (or maybe 3 in some cases) whereas some of the scattered street boxes may only be emptied once daily or less often. I have known for a long time that if you mail from a street box it will take longer to arrive.

However the designated vote by mail boxes are a local thing and should be under control of the County Elections Office, which would operate under state rules. USPS should not be able to do anything with these boxes. States without the availability of universal vote by mail are not going to have them. In Texas we can only drop off our mail in ballots at the County Elections Office and we have to show ID, so we can't take other voters' ballots for them. I wrote our Elections Chief about the possibility of more drop off locations and he told me the state Elections code only allows one site per county, with ID required.

However, we can drop them beginning with the first day of early voting which is a vast improvement over the Election Code rule of Election Day only. Our governor occasionally gets close to doing something right and he did with this. He issued a special proclamation and now we have an extra week of early voting, and we can drop our mail in ballots off for the entire 3 weeks (with ID of course)

[lagomorph777]

44. Very suspicious behavior indeed. Doesn't seem familiar with U.S. government at the most basic level

[Blue_true]

52. How many people know how postal boxes are placed and why?

I always assumed that it was a local decision of the local postmaster, working with local public officials. That may have been Lisa’s understanding. Do you know why postal boxes end up where they get placed and who particiiates in that decision? Secondly, the new postmaster, in addition to being a Trumper came from the business world, believe me, how those people view things is fucked up often, a lot of them are absolutely pennywise and pound foolish to the extreme - so he could have set a silly standard for postal box placement and now stuff is being removed because of that - another reason why his ass needs to be before a Congressional Committee, but we have clearly seen that if Trump thinks that will be damaging, he will order the Postmaster not to testify.

We need to stop accusing each other of possibly being a troll and focus on the critical task before us, getting rid of Trump in November, only then can we hope for a return to normalcy.

[lagomorph777]

55. How many people don't know the USPS is a Federal entity?

[BannonsLiver]

19. You seem to be confused as to who runs the post office

“Oregon has been hit hard, they need to cut money spent drastically, and this is a means along with many many others.”

The post office is run by the federal government, NOT the state of Oregon. I’m not sure why you think Oregon getting “hit hard” is supposed to be relevant to the removal of the boxes.

[druidity33]

26. Do you have a link?

I couldn't find anything that says Gov. Brown found this acceptable. I found this:

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/08/usps-removes-mailboxes-in-portland-and-eugene-cites-declining-mail-volume.html

and this:

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/08/now-theyre-illegally-taking-mailboxes-away

It sounds like residents are pissed off and inconvenienced. Why not wait until the new year? Also there's this:

"USPS has to post signs on mailboxes 30 days prior to removal. They can be removed by law they get less than 25 pieces of mail on average per day, after a public comment period.

Anyone see a notice about this happening?

[LizBeth]

28. I did a little searching myself and read only from the postal. I know I read Brown yesterday.

I will have that site pop in on Fb today at sometime and I was going to see if I could find it because now I am curious myself.

[druidity33]

29. Please do...

It seems crazy that she would support this. Honestly until i see her words in print, i don't believe it. And i looked.



Also the reasoning is that mail is down because of Covid... but what happens when Covid is no longer an issue? Just put the boxes back? Also walking 2 blocks to the next mailbox down the road can be REAL DIFFICULT for a disabled person on a hot day...

[Illumination]

17. I smell a rat! Or shall I say several? Hmm...& this is happening right before the election!

Hope it all backfires standingtall!

[mwooldri]

10. Coming as an outsider...

... please explain to me why the removal of the USPS mail drop boxes would be considered a problem. Maybe it's because I live in a suburban area where if I want anything mailed I can put it in the mailbox and put the flag up - and the mail carrier will collect it from my mailbox. If I want something rushed (or it's big), I can drag my backside to the post office.

In the UK I would understand it to be an issue because UK mail carriers do not typically collect mail from people's homes but rather from the red pillar boxes or wall inserted letter boxes. Removal in the UK would be outrageous. The US - maybe not so much because the mail carriers collect from home.

[LizBeth]

11. In Oregon it certainly is not a problem as far as votes. We have drop box all over town for mail in

votes. I am not arguing it is a problem. I am stating that the Oregon Gov said yes Trump is missing with the postal service and picking up mail boxes has nothing to do with him, they aren't being used and trying to save money. I believe her. Others do not care for the statement and want to argue it doesn't add up and the DEMOCRATIC Gov that has been fighting Trump for months is now on his side.

[Tommymac]

34. Please supply a link containing her statement.

Otherwise it is just hearsay.

[Nululu]

35. Gov Kate Brown and both Senators support USPS

Most voters mail their ballots

[oregonjen]

36. Link please?

I haven’t read anything by Gov. Brown that says that. Her staff is usually very active and timely on FB and no such statement has been made on her page nor have I read anything on our local news station websites.

[flibbitygiblets]

54. A lot of Oregon is rural. "Drop boxes in town" is not a thing where I live

If the mail stops working, I have to drive 50 miles to a drop box. Yes I will do that of course, but what about my thousands of older neighbors who don't drive? Oregon is a huge, vastly rural state outside of Portland, Eugene and a few other larger cities.

[druidity33]

30. You live in suburbia? That's why...

it's not a problem for you. Try living in the city (any city) or a rural area where you only have access to a PO Box and the blue mail box at the PO. I live in rural MA and had to petition the Postmaster General to get a mailbox at the end of my driveway... It's a BIG DEAL for some people.

[Blue_true]

33. In Florida, we buy our own mailboxes and put them up. Letter Carriers then

put mail in them, and if the flag is up, take mail out of them.

I have to disagree with you about cities. I live on the edge of a city, I have plenty of choices with where to drop off a letter. When I am in other cities, I see plenty of blue postal boxes.

[druidity33]

38. Of course i bought my own mailbox...

But i had to apply to the Postmaster General (with 3 of my neighbors) in order to get on a postal route. It took almost a year. In the meantime, guess what? I used a postal box. What you are saying is you don't believe this will be a problem for anybody. I am saying it would have greatly inconvenienced me personally cuz guess what? I guarantee my rural blue box gets less than 50 pieces of mail a day. The next closest one is a 15 minute drive away (I'm a non-driver) Understand? I now have a mailbox and i commute to a nearby city for work. A city with many older folk residents. In the winter, you think it's a good thing to have them walk an extra 2 blocks to get to the Blue box?

I'm really not understanding why there's such push back to the notion that this is a bad idea. If you're looking to find people who will be severely inconvenienced by this, stand next to where some of the removed boxes were for a few days and ask anyone with a letter in their hand as they walk up and find it not there. Just because you can't envision a circumstance in your life where this would be a big deal, doesn't mean it won't be for someone else.

[mwooldri]

42. Now that's info I needed to know. Thank you!

In rural areas that don't have a postal route, that makes sense. And probably in big urban cities like NYC. As I alluded to in my posting, I grew up in the UK and practically everyone is on a postal route - and as glamorized in the kids TV show "Postman Pat".

There may be a business case for removing some of the mail drop boxes - but there should be some consultation and some public notice about this - not just done in one swoop.

[lagomorph777]

46. +1 Even most of suburbia doesn't have the cute mailbox-with-flag anymore.

The blue boxes are very important in most areas.

[oasis]

3. Dismantling of the USPS has been a GOP dream since the early nineties. nt

[dchill]

7. Truth.

[Illumination]

18. They're dismantling the whole country oasis! To the point that this is NOT the America I've

known & loved for many years! These are very demonic forces @ work here...

[oasis]

37. Twenty twenty one and they're done. At least stripped of power. nt

[mudstump]

9. I live in Oregon...we have the familiar white boxes for voting.

I don't know who collects the ballots from those boxes. My small town of Yamhill has one on the corner of Main Street.

[Mr.Bill]

13. My guess is that on November 3rd

DHS storm troopers will be collecting the ballots from those boxes. Don't forget Trump has already declared those ballots to be fraudulent. Take your ballot to the Registrar of Voters office and hand it to them personally. Then hope the storm troopers don't show up at that office and confiscate them.

[Illumination]

21. Or Mr. Bill, are they going to quarantine us in our homes with tape so we can't vote? Trump will

go to absolutely ANY extremes to get what he wants...

[bucolic_frolic]

14. You need to drive to vote or drop a ballot, that must be a tankful of gas in Montana! /nt

[dlk]

15. My guess is Dejoy just laughs before throwing the letters in the trash

He couldn’t care less. Potus has his back.

[yuiyoshida]

16. HE is FUCKING with our Election....

I HATE THIS MAN MORE AND MORE EVERY DAY...and if I said what I felt, I might be muted.. but damn this guy pisses me the fuck off.

[pfitz59]

20. Montana is so big and rural

That the USPS is the lifeline for small towns and isolated ranches. And its 'bluer' than most folks imagine.

[MontanaMama]

25. You have ALL of that right.

I can drive 11 hours east of where I live and still be in MT. It's a big big state and USPS delivers to all corners of it 6 days a week. Fedex and UPS pale in comparative service.

[Cha]

27. So appreciate that so many more leaders & everyone

are getting on the "Get your grubby treasonous hands off our USPS".

TY, Senator Teator

[burrowowl]

40. Good on Senator Tester!

[Jakes Progress]

41. ooooh. A letter.

That will have trump and barr sweating.

They ignore Supreme Court rulings. Why would they stop their theft of the nation because someone wrote a letter. I see that collins said she was so bothered that she wrote a letter. collins!

We are using Roberts Rules of Order while they are using cage match rules.

[louis-t]

48. They're trying to spin this as "normal".

"We always do this." Fucking evil.

[VA_Jill]

51. I love

Sen. Tester, even though he's a little more conservative than I am. He's my brother's senator so I contribute a bit to him as well as to my own two. He has always come across as a straight-up guy who cares about the environment and cares more about regular people than he does about the Washington crowd, besides which, he always looks uncomfortable in a suit and tie. Montana produces some interesting politicians. The other two guys they have in Washington at the moment are jerks.

[sarcasmo]

53. Right on Tester, make some noise.