What's up with the attack on the US Post Office?

[Thomas Veil]

She said later the postal service made the announcement. No confirmation yet on the sites of NBC News, The Guardian, USA Today or CNN.

Even if it comes, I’d still fear they’ll say they’re stopping and then continue to do it.

 

[Eric]

The fact that he's doing this so close to the election is simply baffling, he's basically gotten away with every last corrupt action he's taken and if/when he loses I'm betting they'll have to drag him out kicking and screaming.

 

[Alli]

The fact that he's doing this so close to the election is simply baffling, he's basically gotten away with every last corrupt action he's taken and if/when he loses I'm betting they'll have to drag him out kicking and screaming.

And we’ll watch it over and over.

 

[GermanSuplex]

USPS has now moved 671 DIOSS machines, which can sort some 30k pieces of mail per hour when running correctly.

Let's be conservative in our numbers and say that machines run on average at about half that capacity. And let's say they run an average of 4 hours out of an 8-hour shift. So that's 60k per machine, on average, per shift. That's about 40 million pieces of mail less getting sorted on a shift. Let's say the machines run on average 3 days per week. Now you're at 120 million. Times about 12 weeks, that's almost 1.5 billion pieces of mail less that have the ability to get sorted. Now let's just be extra-conservative and cut that in half.

That's still an astronomical amount of mail. And the numbers are likely many, many times higher, even if you account for machines that were out of commission, rarely used, etc.

There is plenty of room to talk about improving the postal service and putting it in a better position to fund its ridiculous commitments that congress has burdened them with. But that's clearly not what is happening. You invite people from the unions, congress, and others to discuss things. You give advanced notice. None of that is happening, because that's not what any of this is about.

My mind is fried watching this coverage day in and day out of Trump stomping on the constitution, the rule of law, and just plain old decency and traditional norms.

 

[Eric]

USPS has now moved 671 DIOSS machines, which can sort some 30k pieces of mail per hour when running correctly.

Let's be conservative in our numbers and say that machines run on average at about half that capacity. And let's say they run an average of 4 hours out of an 8-hour shift. So that's 60k per machine, on average, per shift. That's about 40 million pieces of mail less getting sorted on a shift. Let's say the machines run on average 3 days per week. Now you're at 120 million. Times about 12 weeks, that's almost 1.5 billion pieces of mail less that have the ability to get sorted. Now let's just be extra-conservative and cut that in half.

That's still an astronomical amount of mail. And the numbers are likely many, many times higher, even if you account for machines that were out of commission, rarely used, etc.

There is plenty of room to talk about improving the postal service and putting it in a better position to fund its ridiculous commitments that congress has burdened them with. But that's clearly not what is happening. You invite people from the unions, congress, and others to discuss things. You give advanced notice. None of that is happening, because that's not what any of this is about.

My mind is fried watching this coverage day in and day out of Trump stomping on the constitution, the rule of law, and just plain old decency and traditional norms.

You would think this will have an impact on the Republican party as well, forcing people to go to the polls or shaking their faith in the USPS isn't exactly going to drive them out, especially when their enthusiasm for him as at an all time low.

 

[Yoused]

One of the big gripes about the USPS is the Post Office buildings. The ones that the public uses. By nature, they have to be accessible, so they tend to be right downtown. Prime real estate that someone is not allowed to place their own for-profit business. There is some resentment over that issue, from the people who want to make money trading prime real estate or want that property.

Kind of a conundrum, though: without the PO there, can the area maintain its premium status?

 

[Eric]

She said later the postal service made the announcement. No confirmation yet on the sites of NBC News, The Guardian, USA Today or CNN.

Even if it comes, I’d still fear they’ll say they’re stopping and then continue to do it.

Finally got official word on this.

USPS will stop removing letter collection boxes in Western states until after the election, spokesman says

The US Postal Service will stop taking letter collection boxes off streets in Western states following accusations the removals would further limit some voters ability to send back mail-in ballots.

www.cnn.com

 

[Alli]

My mind is fried watching this coverage day in and day out of Trump stomping on the constitution, the rule of law, and just plain old decency and traditional norms.

He swore to protect the Constitution, but he wouldn’t recognize it if his worthless life depended on it. He assumes total control until someone suggests something he doesn’t like (nationwide masking) and then he questions his own authority

You would think this will have an impact on the Republican party as well, forcing people to go to the polls or shaking their faith in the USPS isn't exactly going to drive them out, especially when their enthusiasm for him as at an all time low.

Almost everything the man has done has hurt his base. Yet they don’t care cause he’s owning the libs

There is some resentment over that issue, from the people who want to make money trading prime real estate or want that property.

I never thought of it that way, but that makes perfect sense!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Reading this thread with undisguised interest and absorbed fascination.

 

[thekev]

Well, give 'em time! My understanding is that they collect mailboxes, then use pieces from those in worst shape to repair those that are in good shape, then they put them back (depending on mail traffic they might consolidate them or they might keep the same # of mail boxes).

Timing is still incredibly bad. They could offer such reasoning to give the impression of credibility, but there's a reason we keep seeing these changes prior to the election. Normally I would expect big changes to require planning, which would take more time than that DeJoy has been in his position.

DeJoy is a complete dirtbag though. Someone decent would have either declined the position or addressed their conflicts of interest rather than focusing on the minimum legal requirement that he report them to Congress within 30 days of taking office.

 

[Renzatic]

Sup, Kev!

 

[Eric]

Timing is still incredibly bad. They could offer such reasoning to give the impression of credibility, but there's a reason we keep seeing these changes prior to the election. Normally I would expect big changes to require planning, which would take more time than that DeJoy has been in his position.

DeJoy is a complete dirtbag though. Someone decent would have either declined the position or addressed their conflicts of interest rather than focusing on the minimum legal requirement that he report them to Congress within 30 days of taking office.

I suppose people who go to work for him can use it as a way to launch their careers but at what cost? How many that have left have had nice things to say about him afterward? Hardly seems worth it working for a monster like that.

BTW, welcome to the site!

 

[thekev]

How many that have left have had nice things to say about him afterward?

I don't think it matters if he's a nice guy or a decent co-worker. He treated reporting of conflicts of interest, of which he has several, as a chore. This is not a sign of someone with decent ethics, regardless of competence or their attitude toward co-workers and subordinates.

Sup, Kev!

I considered changing the handle, but I wanted it to be recognizable.

 

[fooferdoggie]

man trump Knows how to alienate more people in one fell swoop then any politician in history
.

 

[Renzatic]

I considered changing the handle, but I wanted it to be recognizable.

You could've gone with Maximal Kevinator. We still would've known who you were.

 

[GermanSuplex]

You would think this will have an impact on the Republican party as well, forcing people to go to the polls or shaking their faith in the USPS isn't exactly going to drive them out, especially when their enthusiasm for him as at an all time low.

I already had a discussion with a conservative friend whining about their mail being late. But there is a disconnect between the sudden decrease in reliability/service, and Trump. They are unable or unwilling to connect the recent actions of Trump to what is happening, or they are excusing it as "necessary" because the post office is in bad shape.

They just don't get it.

None of this is about improving the post office. If the post office is suffering because email and UPS/FedEx have cut in on their business.... how is making the post office more sluggish helping? If they were serious about improving service and cutting costs, they would cut costs without affecting service. They're not doing that, they're just crippling it. On purpose. That was always the point, its plain as day to see.

I'm just hoping people get their ballots in early or vote early in person or on Election Day, and try to do so safely.

Even more worrisome than the post office is how much Trump is willing to sacrifice for himself. I have no doubt that if the devil incarnate walked up to him and said "I can guarantee you an election, but a million innocent people will have to die by burning to death alive", he'd gladly take the deal. Coronavirus, getting old people sick, risking lives, taking away people's rights... he has no problem with any of it as long as he somehow comes out ahead. He's a sociopath.

 

[Alli]

I don't think it matters if he's a nice guy or a decent co-worker. He treated reporting of conflicts of interest, of which he has several, as a chore. This is not a sign of someone with decent ethics, regardless of competence or their attitude toward co-workers and subordinates.

Obviously he learned from Jared, who left all the important stuff his security clearance form the first 3 times.

man trump Knows how to alienate more people in one fell swoop then any politician in history

Dan Rather is still sharp as a tack.

They just don't get it.

They just don’t WANT to get it.

 

[thekev]

You could've gone with Maximal Kevinator. We still would've known who you were.

I could have also gone with BobRoss, but I'll settle for the avatar. Landshark wasn't really doing it for me. I doubt many people realized it was a Futurama reference.

 

[Renzatic]

I could have also gone with BobRoss, but I'll settle for the avatar. Landshark wasn't really doing it for me. I doubt many people realized it was a Futurama reference.

No. You need to be Maximal Kevinator. Anything else would be uncivilized.

 

[thekev]

No. You need to be Maximal Kevinator. Anything else would be uncivilized.

I dunno man. Check out where Arnold firing a handheld gatling gun. I don't think I could withstand the recoil of that thing?