USPS postal crisis

[jimnyc]

What a load of horse shit.

ALL the MSM now going nuts, claiming Trump is purposely slowing them down. That is incorrect. All the claims they are making are conspiracy theories and outright bullshit.

The USPS is fully funded through 2021, and all sorters running. Absolutely nothing is being done to stop them as the Dems and supporters are now running with. Claims of interfering in the election - outright bullshit.

The fight over funding a losing proposition has been going on for years. But again, they're funded plenty through this election. And Trump wants the next American pandemic bailout money to happen prior to additional crap going to them.

And suddenly, CBS,NBC, ABC, CNN and many others all run with the same story of BS.

And not one adds in proof or evidence of anything other than the above, the simple truth of the USPS and the billions they lose - and now with the pandemic they are running behind. The rest is made up BS to lay against Trump along with the rest of the created chaos out there. :rolleyes:

[jimnyc]

I wish I had posted the stupid articles as I came across them, but I'm behind on this one.

This is just a couple, in no specific order, that I could find for now...

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Democrats Go Postal with Busted Mailbox Conspiracy Theory

Democrats have spent several days flogging the false “mailbox conspiracy” theory that President Donald Trump is deliberately crippling the U.S. Postal Service so that it cannot handle votes by mail in November — even forcing it to remove mailboxes.

The truth is that the mailboxes were removed because mailboxes are always being removed. About 14,000 were removed during the Obama-Biden administration. Democrats are creating a new hysteria to cast Trump as a tyrant and motivate their conspiracy-theory-addled voters.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has enthusiastically inflamed this phony conspiracy theory — far more directly than Trump can be said to have “promoted” or “encouraged” the Kamala Harris “Birther” theory (which he declined to pursue).

https://i.imgur.com/4dvaCki.png

The truth is far more mundane.

The U.S. Postal Service has been a problem for years, constantly losing money.

In 2009, the postmaster general proposed moving to five-day-per-week mail delivery to cut costs. President Barack Obama criticized the service that year for failing to keep up with private sector competitors. The Obama-Biden administration considered closing nearly 3,700 post office locations, and proposed cutting 12,000 postal jobs.

President Trump tried a different tack, demanding in 2018 that Amazon lower the prices it charged the U.S. Postal Service for delivering its packages to consumers.

One aspect of ongoing cost management is the removal of mailbox from areas where few people deposit mail.

Kimberly Frum, a spokeswoman for the service, told The Hill (via the Blaze) that low-volume mailboxes are regularly removed to cut costs:


She said that low-volume mailboxes are a financial drag on the Postal Service, which lost more than $2 billion in the second quarter.

“It is a fluid process and figures can vary from day-to-day,” Frum said. “Historically, mail boxes have been removed for lack of use and installed in growth areas.”

“When a collection box consistently receives very small amounts of mail for months on end, it costs the Postal Service money in fuel and workhours for letter carriers to drive to the mailbox and collect the mail. Removing the box is simply good business sense in that respect. It is important to note that anyone with a residential or business mailbox can use it as a vehicle to send outgoing mail.”

(Update: Note that the photograph of “retired” mailboxes, above, is from 2009, during the first year of the Obama-Biden administration.)

The removal of mailboxes has been haled until after the election, to avoid further confusion (sown deliberately by Democrats and the media). But even with fewer mailboxes, the U.S. Postal Service can probably handle the delivery of ballots, Byron York argues in the Washington Examiner. It handles hundreds of millions of items daily.

The bottleneck is not necessarily the U.S. Postal Service, but rather the state and local election officials who set arbitrary deadlines for postmarking ballots, and who will have to sort out millions more additional mailed ballots than they are used to handling. In many states, they have never done anything like it before.

In New York’s Democratic primary, more than one out of every four vote-by-mail ballots was disqualified. In Clark County, Nevada, 223,000 mailed ballots were returned as undeliverable. That is not a postal problem; it is a government problem that cannot be fixed by November.

Democrats have targeted Postmaster General Louis DeJoy because he is a Republican donor. They ignore the fact that he “made a fortune in shipping and logistics” and that his “former company was a contractor of the Postal Service for many years,” York notes.

DeJoy’s plan to save the U.S. Postal Service involves delivering all mail in the morning, to avoid the expense of overtime pay. It is currently being tested across the country. Democrats have turned that into a dark conspiracy to steal the election — or cast doubt on mail-in voting.

But given that the Obama-Biden administration itself removed thousands upon thousands of mailboxes, this is a conspiracy theory that — like the others — has gone bust, at least for those of us living in the real world.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/08/17/pollak-democrats-go-postal-with-busted-mailbox-conspiracy-theory/


ABC/NBC Stoke Conspiracy: Trump Creating 'Mail-In Voting Scandal,' a 'Crisis'

Setting the stage for their excuse if President Trump won reelection, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Sunday Today spent the morning accusing the President of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election. ABC called it the “mail-in voting scandal” while NBC dubbed it the “Postal Service crisis;” accusing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of allegedly doing Trump’s dirty work, even though they admit they don’t have any hard evidence of wrongdoing.

Near the top of ABC’s coverage of the purported scandal, White House correspondent Rachel Scott leaned on serial liars Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to make the baseless accusations:

RACHEL SCOTT: Democrats calling on the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy to resign. Congressman Adam Schiff tweeting: “He's slowed delivery, banned overtime, and decommissioned mail-sorting machines right before the election, during a pandemic.”

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Within this administration is an attempt to make sure your vote doesn't count and doesn't count as cast.

“Protesters filling the streets outside DeJoy's home. Carrying signs reading, ‘don't stamp out democracy,’” Scott boasted. Further proving she was getting her talking points from the DNC, Scott concluded by noting that “Democratic aides” told her “Nancy Pelosi is considering bringing back the chamber early to address those concerns with the post office.”

After bringing on Clinton lackey and faux journalist George Stephanopoulos a short time later, GMA co-anchor Dan Harris wanted him to address the “mail-in voting scandal” and wondered if the Trump administration’s “changes” to the Post Service “represent a real threat to the health of this election?”

“It could. I mean, there's a good chance you're going to have huge backlogs of mail across the country as you see these cutbacks and overtime and other changes the postal service is making,” Stephanopoulos claimed.

At no point did ABC offer any hard evidence to back up their conspiracy theory. They only provided vague claims that mail delivery has slowed down. Stephanopoulos even admitted, “the Post Service is equipped to get out billions of pieces of mail, they do it every Christmas.” Though, he did seem to let the cat out the bag in regards to their intentions, noting that long count times “could lead to questions about the legitimacy of the election.”

Over on NBC, fill-in anchor Hallie Jackson, fresh back from maternity leave, also admitted “the USPS can handle a lot of mail (…) We see it every year around the holidays.” But that didn’t stop her pearl-clutching over the “Postal Service crisis” to political director Chuck Todd.

Chiding the President as the one who “needs to back off on his rhetoric here,” Todd pushed his “anecdotal” evidence of a crime (conspiracy theory), including claims Trump was stealing mailboxes:

But physically it seems as if, you know, it's hard to ignore all these anecdotal reports all around the country, whether it's slow mail in Montana, removed mailboxes in Oregon. There's just a lot of odd stuff happening at an odd time.

“I really think he is playing with fire here,” Todd warned, suggesting Trump would lose the rural vote.

It’s interesting how, with all their caterwauling about Trump supposedly damaging the election, they didn’t mention how Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) screwed up the mail-in voting system for the Democratic primary in New York.

Rest - https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2020/08/16/abcnbc-stoke-conspiracy-trump-creating-mail-voting-scandal


CNN's Toobin: GOP Policy Conspires to 'To Stop Democrats From Voting'

CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joined Don Lemon on Friday's CNN Tonight for a very solemn segment about voting and the Republican Party's alleged war on it. According to Toobin, it is GOP policy to make sure Democrats don't vote.

Referring to the controversy of USPS funding, Toobin began by sardonically asking Toobin, "What the hell is going on? How are you, by the way?"

TOOBIN: I'm good. This is scary, Don. I got to say, you know, it's been Republican Party policy for decades to try to stop Democrats from voting. Whether it's closing polling places in the South, whether it's photo I.D. requirements, limiting early voting, limiting absentee voting. This has been national policy. But it's usually kind of dressed up as something other than it is.

Even CNN's own reporters have previously poured cold water on the closed polling places theory, not to mention the long list of other things that Democrats paint as unreasonable, like requiring require photo identification.

Toobin saw sinister motives behind everything, including the current battle over the post office. "There's not even any pretense about what the president is doing now. He's saying he wants to starve the Postal Service because he wants Democrats not to vote. He said that. This is not an interpretation."

In fact, it is an interpretation. Trump said denying such funds would eliminate possibilities for fraud, not Democratic votes. Toobin could have tried to rebut that argument, but instead went for conspiracy mongering that is more common in leftist corners of the internet.

Rest - https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2020/08/16/cnns-toobin-gop-policy-conspires-stop-democrats-voting


Tin Foil Hat CNN Claims Trump Wants to Keep Americans From Voting

On Friday’s New Day, CNN co-host John Berman and guest host Erica Hill joined forces with political correspondent Abby Phillip to forward Democratic talking points about President Trump objecting to sinking more taxpayer dollars into the postal service. The partisan hacks entered into tin-foil-hat territory when Hill claimed that Trump desires “to make sure that an American's right to vote isn't counted” and Berman declared that there is “a literal struggle over democracy and the ability to vote.”

Hill began the hackery by trying to scare viewers into thinking the legitimacy of the November election was at risk: "The President has gone from muddying the waters -- trying to sow, you know, discord and doubt, to blatantly saying we don't want to give the post office the money because we want to make sure that an American's right to vote isn't counted."

This statement is just a blatant lie. Trump objects to the idea of universal mail-in balloting, which is rife with failure and the possibility of fraud. In July, an Honest Elections Project study demonstrated states have sent ballots to deceased individuals and addresses where the intended recipients no longer reside. Furthermore, the group said that mail-in ballots enable people to send in ballots for dead people and to send ballots to multiple states.

For these reasons, 800 ballots were disqualified from an election earlier this year in Paterson, NJ and four people, including two city officials, face criminal charges for their involvement. President Jimmy Carter also chaired a 2005 commission that found that there are serious issues with the legitimacy of mail-in voting. In a viral news story, CBS tried a mail-in voting experiment, which went very badly. With these concerns, it begs the question as to why the leftist media is pushing for mail-in voting.

Phillip spewed Democratic garbage by claiming that Trump wants to defund the Postal Service in order to suppress the vote:


It's in the President's mind, is there a connection between the Post Office and its fate and this election, and then he comes out and says it -- that in his mind there is a connection. He -- he does not want to fund the Post Office so -- so that he can stop mail-in voting from being implemented across the country and hamper the Post Office's ability to process millions of ballots. I can't tell you how -- how -- how unusual and alarming that is, frankly.

This is another lie. The desire to defund the postal service is nothing new in both conservative and libertarian circles and has nothing to do with preventing people from voting. The Cato Institute found that the USPS loses billions of dollars every year and is extremely inefficient. But heaven forbid that Trump not want to waste more tax dollars.

Rest - https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/duncan-schroeder/2020/08/15/tin-foil-hat-cnn-claims-trump-wants-keep-americans-voting

[jimnyc]

Here is just one example of how Trump is trying to steal the election. In addition to removing mailboxes... (he started this years ago in secret...)

But now he's been busted red handed. They are locking and welding mailboxes shut so that you can't deliver your mail!! How insane is this?

Did he think he could just lock/weld them shut and this would work? Maybe no one would notice?

Or perhaps they are just security devices, and you can still send your mail via these boxes. And yet the dem supporters are filling FB and Twitter with pictures swearing that Trump is stealing the election!! :rolleyes:

I mean, at least use a current photo, dumbasses.

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Outraged Democrats Pass Photo Around of Locked Mailboxes – Blame Trump — But Photo Is From 2016!

In their latest coup attempt Democrats are hoping to move the entire country to mail-in voting.
Pelosi is calling the House in session later this week not to vote on assistance to the middle class but to vote on more money for the US Postal Service so they can push the country to mail-in voting.

The potential for fraud is greatly increased with mail-in voting.
Democrats know this.

But Pelosi and Democrats are trying to paint Trump as the one stealing the election – not them.

This past weekend Democrats were outraged after photos surfaced of locked mailboxes!
Trump is stealing the election!

Rex Chapman tweeted this out:

https://i.imgur.com/LJz0LyW.png

It got 16,000 retweets.

Sam in Burbank went down and took a picture of the locked up mailboxes.
Sure enough, they’re locked!

https://i.imgur.com/ziS0c6g.png
https://i.imgur.com/2YBr4TF.png

Democrats were FUMING!

But once again this was just another Democrat media hoax.

The USPS started locking up mailboxes back in 2016 — from local thieves.

Rest - https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/outraged-democrats-pass-photo-around-locked-mailboxes-blame-trump-photo-2016/


Thieves raiding Valley mailboxes prompt Postal Service to take action

On a recent Sunday night, Mike Bloodworth spotted something fishy going on. It looked like someone was going fishing, but there was no stream or pond nearby.

Bloodworth suspected the person was about to break into the big blue mailbox across the street from his Van Nuys home. So he turned his lights on and the person hustled off.

“In the last couple of days I’ve noticed people fishing in the mail box trying to pull mail out,” he said. “I’ve seen it happen three other times before. It’s usually three or four in the morning. People come up to the box and loiter and then stick the fishing tool in.”

...

Mail box retrofitting began last year but officials could not say how many boxes have been modified.

“We’re doing what we can to make these boxes safer,” Maher said.

One security method involves welding shut the drop-down door on walk-up mail boxes, and replacing it with a single slot so letters can be fed in one at a time.

“This helps prevent the fishing and we also have an anti-fishing device placed inside the boxes,” Maher said. “It is a ledge (type device) so that once a letter goes down in them it can’t come back up again.”

Some drive-up boxes have been fitted with red locking caps. Some double-box installations are fitted with a big red cover and a really big black lock.

The caps and covers are put on at the last pickup of the day and removed the following morning.

“We’re doing what we can to make these boxes safe, Maher said.

Rest - https://www.dailynews.com/2016/04/23/thieves-raiding-valley-mailboxes-prompt-postal-service-to-take-action/

[jimnyc]

First, another lefty scare tactic about Trump stealing the election:

Postal slowdown sparks claims of plot to undermine US vote

The United States Postal Service is popularly known for delivering mail despite snow, rain or heat, but it faces a new foe in President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the November 3 elections in which millions of voters are expected to cast ballots by mail due to the coronavirus, Trump has leveled an unprecedented attack at the USPS, opposing efforts to give the cash-strapped agency more money as part of a big new virus-related stimulus package, even as changes there have caused delays in mail delivery.

Rest - https://news.yahoo.com/postal-slowdown-sparks-claims-plot-023525958.html


But then I read this as well:


Let me make this simple: The idea that Trump is using the USPS to steal the election is a baseless conspiracy theory. There is no evidence to support it.

Let's go through the actual topics, all of which are being confused to create a state of misinformation and fear.

1) Dems are pushing for universal mail-in election. Republicans oppose this and say it creates a possibility for fraud. There is a reasonable compromise, such as what is planned in KY, that would allow absentee ballots for all who want one, early voting, & election day voting.

2) The USPS has been in terrible financial shape for years. It is consistently losing money. Dems want to bail it out. Republicans want it reformed. There is not an immediate fiscal danger as current funding is sufficient through 2021.

2A) The treasury has offered the USPS an additional 10 Billion loan as of the end of July if needed. That loan does come with some strings for reforms, but it does not look like it is needed for immediate operation until late in 2021.

3) Trump did go on tv and say he opposes the bailout of uSPS, and specifically cited his opposition to universal mail voting (which he says helps Dems) as the reason. As pointed out in 2, This has been used to suggest he is using USPS to undermine the election.

3A) However, as pointed out in 2, there is no immediate funding issue that would hinder the USPS from supporting the election. Funding is not the problem with a massive wave of mail-based voting, deadlines and timing are.

4) The USPS has done a bunch of regular actions that are now being cited as irregular by people who don't know better. One example is the removal and moving of pick-up mailboxes from low-traffic areas. USPS has agreed to pause it anyways to avoid the controversy now.

5) As the USPS is an organization with serious fiscal issues and due to COVID-19 impact, they are undergoing delays in shipping and structural changes/cuts in response. The union/activists oppose these and thus are trying to tie them to the election.

5A) Many of these actions have occurred before (replacing/eliminating sorting machines outside hubs). Every agency/group is taking cuts and reduced hours right now. There is no evidence those changes have anything to do with or would affect the election.

6) The real problem with the election is the regular deadlines are impossible to ensure with USPS shipping times. Some states allow ballot requests 4 days before the election! That's why USPS sent out letters to states warning them of need for changes in timing to protect votes.

In conclusion, this is going to be one of the most logistically difficult elections in history. Mail-in voting creates real problems and concerns. There are solutions that require compromise.

None of that supports the partisan conspiracy mentioned at the beginning.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1295027814786387974.html


The above appears to be someone I don't know posting on Twitter. But I looked the things up and they seem legit. Just a few:

USPS by the numbers: Agency heading for insolvency in late 2021

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/usps-numbers-agency-heading-insolvency-190120475.html

The US Post Office is Fully Funded Through October of 2021

https://www.foxsports640.com/the-us-post-office-is-fully-funded-through-october-of-2021/

USPS forecasts push back timeline of when it expects to run out of cash

The Postal Service expects to withstand the financial impact of the coronavirus impact better than it anticipated a few months ago, but warns that it could still run out of cash before the end of 2021 without long-term reform from Congress.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2020/06/usps-forecasts-push-back-timeline-of-when-it-expects-to-run-out-of-cash/

U.S. Treasury makes $10 billion loan available to postal service as part of coronavirus relief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it has reached a deal with the U.S. Postal Service on the conditions of a loan of up to $10 billion that was included in recent coronavirus relief legislation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-postal-idUSKCN24U29W

So - don't believe the Democrat and MSM bullshit about funding and Trump stealing the election. These degenerate democrats just lie and lie some more. :rolleyes:

[pete311]

I don't understand this USPS losing money argument. Gov agencies are not businesses. Is anyone angry that the military lost 721.5B last year?

It's been widely reported that 671 sorting machines have gone offline recently.

[jimnyc]

I don't understand this USPS losing money argument. Gov agencies are not businesses. Is anyone angry that the military lost 721.5B last year?

It's been widely reported that 671 sorting machines have gone offline recently.

It was a part of the USPS agenda to shut those machines in June of this year. The removals, and additions, change at time to go along with current traffic of mail. Same as the "locked boxes" of Trump stealing the election - which wasn't/isn't true and just part of the USPS plan to stop mail theft and other crap. Things that have nothing to do with Trump or the election but what the PO does. I'm not saying I agree with it. I think this year, knowing what we're about to be hit with regarding an increase in mail due to voting via mail, they should be increasing things and making changes to help. But it isn't all their fault. And isn't their fault if things aren't done timely. And not their fault of additional mail is out there going to incorrect addresses and dead people.

[jimnyc]

I don't understand this USPS losing money argument. Gov agencies are not businesses. Is anyone angry that the military lost 721.5B last year?

The military didn't "lose" money, they spent it. For someone who spouts about economic success, surely you know the difference.

I personally don't mind investing in our postal service. Our mail is important and a vital service in many ways. With that said, I do think it can be made to be profitable. And if not, I think they should be sold off private and have investors and turn it into a more profitable agency, and one that works much better than current as-is.

[jimnyc]

This should put an end to all of the fake whining and conspiracy theories. But it won't.

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Postmaster To Suspend USPS Changes Until After Election

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday that he will suspend changes to the U.S. Postal Service until after the 2020 election to avoid interfering with races across the country.

DeJoy released a statement saying he wants to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail” as the House was set to return back from recess Saturday to pass legislation for the USPS. DeJoy has also been called to testify before the House and the Senate, according to Axios.

“The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards. The American public should know that this is our number one priority between now and election day,” the statement reads.

“The 630,000 dedicated women and men of the Postal Service are committed, ready and proud to meet this sacred duty. I am announcing today the expansion of our current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country,” the statement continued.

...

“Retail hours at Post Offices will not change,” DeJoy wrote. “Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are. No mail processing facilities will be closed. And we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.”

Rest - https://dailycaller.com/2020/08/18/postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-usps-changes-election-2020/