We are all familiar with the partisanship in the upper management of the United States Postal Service. The Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, was hired in the last months of the previous administration - I refuse to type the former president's name - for one purpose: to slow the mail down so mail-in ballot requests and the mail-in ballots themselves would not get to their intended recipient in time. Since absentee balloting was used by Democrats far more than Republicans, who distrust the mail system, even though it is one of the most efficient and secure delivery systems in the world, and is heavily used by people without adequate means of transportation. This means Black and lower income people, the groups the former president wanted to disenfranchise. His reelection campaign hoped for late votes which would not be counted, thus putting a thumb on the scale in his favor.
His plan did not work and he was defeated because the same groups stood in line in inclement weather of all kinds for many hours to cast their ballots. But the system has not returned to its former efficiency.
DeJoy removed sorting machines, cut hours, and demanded that the letter carriers return to their offices after one truckful of mail was delivered; no returning to the station for the final load. These new procedures were put in place before the holiday rush, so there was a serious slowdown for what was a record setting amount of items being mailed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. People got their gifts late, individuals who depend on regular deliveries of prescription medications were never sure if the next doses would arrive on time, and many letters were delivered late.
Some of them, like the mailed notices folks like me get come late and some never arrive, even though my postal notices show that mail will arrive. Today, I received a notice from one of my Condé Nast magazines. It came in a red-tinted envelope to indicate high importance, and it was. It was an urgent reminder that my subscription was about to expire and that I had a deadline to return the form. As I write this, the day is January 21, 2021, the day after President Joe Biden was inaugurated. I experience first-hand one of the reasons he has begun undoing the damage of the previous administration, though fixing some, like returning the USPS to its former efficiency, will be harder than others.
The notice I received said the absolute, final cutoff date for me to return my form was January 10, 2021.
Eleven days ago. This, of course, means it was mailed long before that!
I like using stamped mail when I can and I always get magazine renewal notices and other important information like insurance papers both by 'snail mail' and by email. That way, I help the USPS a bit and get timely notices. In this case, my subscription was renewed online earlier this month because of an email notice I received. Had I waited for and depended on my mailed notice, well, I would be renewing an expired subscription and most likely missing several issues.
I wish President Biden well as he works through the terror of the past four years. He has already removed many former appointees, including those in sensitive positions, but getting rid of the Postmaster General is not easily done. The president cannot directly fire DeJoy because the USPS Board of Directors appointed him; the Board normally consists of up to nine governors appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, which is evenly split. Whether Republicans in the Senate would go along with a change is a bet I would not take. The most immediate action Biden can take is put pressure on DeJoy and the Board for a replacement. Considering that there are currently only two Democrats on the Board of six, so Biden could appoint additional governors and a Deputy PMG, which might help.
My trust and faith in timely delivery of mail by the United States Postal Service has been badly, perhaps permanently, damaged. I will not be giving up my email account and I will continue to get snail mail, even if it comes eleven days after the deadline.
