So much for reports that the United States Postal Service has suspended so called “changes” at the USPS at a time when President Donald Trump has coincidentally blasted mail in voting (but voted by mail himself this week attempting to make the false distinction between mail in voting and absentee ballot mailing). Reports now say that even if that happens they don’t intend to put back the many sorting machines or undue any of the things already done that will greatly slowly the mail. Mission accomplished?
Speaker Pelosi says she spoke to DeJoy: "The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime … are not in the works."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 19, 2020
Exactly. They were 95% done removing sorting machines by this past Sunday. So when they “stopped” it, it was already done. Unless they replace the machines, the post boxes and the overtime, kiss your mail service goodbye. https://t.co/ZrT5u1fB6W
— John Aravosis ???????? (@aravosis) August 19, 2020
Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office. Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/tNm9pXjcnU
— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020
ABC News has obtained photos that appear to show mail sorting machines in parts at a Portland Post Office. And the official response to it is one that is basically a non-response:
As questions over recent changes implemented at the U.S. Postal Service continue to mount, new images obtained by ABC News appear to show mail sorting machines — critical pieces of equipment used to speed up the mail delivery process — sitting in parts in a postal facility in Portland, Ore.
The machines are wrapped in yellow caution tape after having recently been decommissioned and broken down into parts within the last month, according to the postal employee who took the photos, who requested anonymity because they are not permitted to take photos inside the facility.
Swanson did not respond to a question about whether the machines had, in fact, been replaced by newer models. Instead Swanson replied with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s statement Tuesday in which he announced he would be “suspending” until after the presidential election the contentious cuts he implemented at the postal service, which saw overtime slashed and equipment taken out of service– a major reversal in the face of public outcry.
One formal postal service leader said that announcement raised more questions than it answers, including for the equipment in facilities like the one in Portland that have already been taken offline.
“[The statement] goes on to say that mail processing equipment will remain as it is, will remain where they are. … Well, if you’ve already dismantled some of that equipment or removed it, the fact that it’s remaining as it is doesn’t mean that you’re going to reassemble that equipment, or return it to the extend that it’s been removed,” Ronald Stroman, the former Deputy Postmaster General until June, said on Tuesday.
OF RELATED INTEREST:
—Trump’s coup-by-mail is underway. America can’t wait until November to fight back.
—A dismantled post office destroys more than mail service
—TRUMP MAIL (Cartoon)
—Trump’s attacks on Post Office: “red alert” for media, Democrats, voters and democratic norms (Includes Roundup)
I regret to inform you reports of DeJoy rolling back all the changes he's made at the post office are greatly exaggerated. https://t.co/sSOjB34Ssn
— Aaron W. Gordon (@A_W_Gordon) August 19, 2020
USPS mail sorting machines being destroyed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, @_HeatherWalker reports
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 19, 2020
Thank God for the USPS. https://t.co/9QCKRceNbH
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 19, 2020
Will DeJoy roll this back, too?
USPS is inexplicably now banning postal employees from witnessing absentee ballots, something they've always done before.
"The change could make it more difficult for particularly rural residents to vote by mail."https://t.co/9LYc3waBTe
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) August 19, 2020
So yesterday’s promise to stop dismantling the USPS was a lie. https://t.co/r75Y9yDLCw
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) August 19, 2020
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.