UHHH SO GUYS, I NEED YOU ALL TO WATCH THIS.
They’re proposing shutting down post offices BEFORE THE ELECTION.
Not only that, they’re also proposing:
- Cutting overtime, which, in turn, will mean thousands of packages and mail will not be delivered in a timely matter. Days after holidays and Mondays are the HEAVIEST days for letter carriers. Election years are notoriously heavy, period, because of the massive door-to-door: political flyers, mail, and more voting information.
- Rolling back mail. Let me explain this a bit further because I was shouting at my computer over this, that’s how INSANE this is.
Letter carriers have a deadline of bringing back the mail by 6:00 pm because that’s when all outgoing mail is sent to processing facilities. USPS adheres by a VERY, VERY strict schedule. So if they call back letter carriers, in the months leading up to not only the holidays, but an election, there is no way they can finish a route. Your Amazon packages? Delayed. Any packages? Delayed.
Under no circumstances does USPS allow this, unless it’s standard mail. They will want letter carriers to return to the station, with mail that wasn’t delivered to return to the station. They will then have to fucking sort that undelivered mail and packages from the previous day, and then will be expected to deliver yesterday’s mail and today’s mail. This process will repeat itself and nothing will be delivered because of the continuous roll back.
I’ve talked about my personal experience as a letter carrier on this blog. I can tell you flat out, it was already a nightmare because of vendors like Amazon and the massive amount of mail. USPS wasn’t dying in 2016, and it’s not dying this year.
I averaged 65+ hours of work.
I’ve worked 21 days straight.
I’ve had a shift that was 13 and a half hours long in Denver. This is serious shit.
USPS was already overburdened before this, and it will be WORSE for them if they pull this shit.
GET YOUR BALLOTS READY AS SOON AS YOU GET THEM, ASAP. USE THE COLLECTION BOXES, INSTEAD.
These boxes are emptied multiple times a day by collection trucks! I’ve had to empty some after my routes as CCA when they fell behind. If you want your outgoing mail to go out the same day?
USE THE BLUE BOXES. IT WILL BE DELIVERED IF YOUR LETTER CARRIER CAN’T TAKE IT.