The United States Postal Service is dealing with crippling backlogs of letters and packages.
Despite a surge in package delivery during the pandemic, postal workers are no longer able to work overtime, and fewer mail trucks are on the road.
The self-funded Postal Service has been seeking billions in aid from Congress — an effort that’s been stymied by President Trump, who has long had a contentious relationship with the USPS and has pushed to privatize it.
And now, the USPS is adjusting to cost-cutting policies put in place by its new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who is a top Trump donor and longtime Republican fundraiser.
The situation became even more uncertain when DeJoy announced a major restructuring of the Postal Service in a memo released on Friday.
The plan involves the reassignment of 23 postal executives in an overhaul that “deemphasizes decades’ worth of institutional postal knowledge” and “centralizes power around DeJoy.”
The shift in power stands to further complicate the new postmaster general’s relationship with Democrats in Congress, who want him investigated.
All of this means the future of the Postal Service is in jeopardy.
Decisions being made by Trump allies are leading to delays that could motivate the Postal Service’s biggest customers to send their packages through competitors like UPS and FedEx.
And according to some, the strategy could have devastating consequences.
“It is unimaginable to think of an America without the Postal Service,” said John McHugh, chairman of the Package Coalition, a trade group that counts Amazon and eBay as members. “But if things go toward a worst-case scenario in this instance, which is entirely possible, that’s what would have to occur.”
The Postal Service has informed states that they’ll need to pay first-class 55-cent postage to mail ballots to voters, rather than the normal 20-cent bulk rate.
That nearly triples the per-ballot cost at a time when tens of millions more will be delivered.
The rate change would have to go through the Postal Regulatory Commission and, undoubtedly, litigation.
But the time frame for that is incredibly short, as ballots go out very soon.
States and cities may decide they don’t have the money to mail absentee ballots, and will make them harder to get.
Which is exactly the worst-case scenario everyone fears.
A more serious and immediate consequence of the Postal Service’s recent problems has led to concern that the delays could interfere with the November election, when a record number of people are expected to vote by mail due to the pandemic.
Given the facts and Trump’s on-going public criticism of mail-in voting, some are accusing Trump of intentionally kneecapping the Postal Service in an attempt to sabotage the election, as he trails Joe Biden in the polls.
Democrats in Congress are worried enough about the reported delays and their potential effect on democracy that they called the new postmaster general to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to demand he reverse the new policies.
DeJoy was appointed by the six members of the Postal Service Board of Governors, all of whom were appointed by Trump.
And it was after DeJoy got to work that the mail delays began.
DeJoy, a former logistics executive with no Postal Service experience, started his new gig by launching a series of pilot programs designed to slash USPS spending.
Multiple postal worker unions reported that DeJoy’s policies limited mail transportation, causing mail to be left at the sorting plant for days longer than it normally would.
Meanwhile, a crackdown on overtime hours meant that sorting machines are shut down before the day’s work is done.
Some have called DeJoy “a crony,” and many are scrutinizing his background and political ties.
As a former logistics executive, DeJoy ran companies that counted the USPS as a client, and his family has invested $30.1 million to $75.3 million in USPS competitors or contractors, including UPS.
DeJoy is also a celebrated Republican party fundraiser who contributed over $1.5 million to Trump’s campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
His wife, Aldona Wos, served as ambassador to Estonia in the George W. Bush administration and has been nominated by President Trump to be the next ambassador to Canada.
Considering DeJoy’s connections to Trump and the Republican Party and the reports of worsening mail delays with the election less than 100 days away, many are afraid that the president is plotting to rig the election in November by casting doubt on the dependability of mail-in voting.
“The Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to sabotage the US Postal Service is a direct attack on our democracy,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, which oversees the USPS, told Recode. “Rural and urban, Democrat, Republican, or independent, every American has come to rely on the Postal Service, and our election is increasingly dependent on it. Congress must with one voice and clear action ensure service standards are not allowed to falter.”
Different states have different laws about how mail-in ballots work.
Currently, 34 states — including swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — require ballots to be received by election authorities by Election Day, so any delay in the mail could lead to untold numbers of votes going uncounted.
Rules about when states count the mail-in ballots also vary, so results are bound to be delayed in states like New York, where ballots can only be counted after the polls close.
Individual states can update their laws governing mail-in voting before November.
Aware of this fact, the Trump campaign has sued state and local governments across the country over mail-in ballot rules.
One suit, in Pennsylvania, argues that mail-in ballot drop boxes — which are designed to handle ballots, look like mailboxes, and are monitored closely — are unconstitutional and should be removed.
Another lawsuit from the Trump campaign and other Republicans seeks to overturn a new law in Nevada that would require the state to mail everyone a ballot.
The vast majority of Americans don’t just rely on the Postal Service.
They love it.
For years, the USPS has been the most popular government agency in the United States.
According to a Pew Research Center study released in April, 91 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Postal Service, and roughly the same percentage of Americans want to bail out the agency.
Similarly, countless companies that do business with the Postal Service are fans.
Online retailers, including Amazon, even spent millions of dollars on an ad campaign begging lawmakers to save the Postal Service.
These facts leave us with a very curious situation.
The Postal Service is seriously struggling, but it’s never been more important.
It’s critical to get prescriptions to the homes of people during a pandemic and to deliver ballots to state election boards.
It’s even prized by huge corporations like Amazon, who could easily give their money to a competing private company but would rather work with Postal Service.
At the same time, Trump seems to disdain the agency, and the new postmaster general seems to be doing more harm than good.