Postal Service says it has 'ample capacity' to handle election after Trump casts doubt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: CNN

The US Postal Service definitively said Monday that it had the capacity to handle the added volume of mail-in ballots in November's general election after President Donald Trump questioned its ability to do so.

"The Postal Service has ample capacity to adjust our nationwide processing and delivery network to meet projected Election and Political Mail volume, including any additional volume that may result as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic," the agency said in a statement.

The agency's resolute stance comes after high profile naysayers, especially the President, have cast doubt on whether it will be able to handle an election that is expected to see significant numbers of mail-in ballots as the pandemic rages on.

On Monday morning, Trump attacked vote by mail and USPS' capacity to handle an election where people aren't voting in person, tweeting that the "Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/postal-service-says-it-has-ample-capacity-to-handle-election-after-trump-casts-doubt/ar-BB17wKmM?li=BBnb7Kz

[Hoyt]

1. Another trump pick contradicts the Liar-in-Chief.

[Grokenstein]

2. Hilarious (maybe) in light of what Trump's Postbastard General is doing.

Same article:

Under the leadership of the new postmaster general, Trump loyalist Louis DeJoy, USPS is seeing a slowing of mail delivery in some places. The agency has recently implemented new efforts that workers blame for delivery delays of at least two days across the country -- prompting fears that many ballots may not reach election offices in time if the problems aren't corrected by November.

In a letter to Congress released Monday, an attorney for USPS argued that an internal memo obtained by CNN advising postal workers of an end to late trips and extra trips did not originate from postal service headquarters and should "not be treated as official statements of Postal Service policy."

But the letter -- dated July 22 and sent in response to a congressional inquiry about service changes at the USPS -- does confirm the USPS is taking "immediate steps to increase operational efficiency by re-emphasizing existing operational plans." It also makes the case that these efforts are "clearly within the legal authority of the Postmaster General" and do not require approval from Congress of the USPS Board of Governors, every member of which is now a Trump appointee.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. 'ample capacity' is a worthless and empty assertion - it takes more components

managerial will and flexibility, personnel, systems, technology.

'ample capacity' is just bull.

[thesquanderer]

10. USPS delivers something like 2 billion Xmas cards every year.

So I don't doubt they can handle the required maybe ~100 million ballots.

(Also, in both cases, they're not all sent on one day, but over a period of weeks.)

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. This

[stillcool]

4. So is this Trump's guy saying All's Well...

while everyone else is saying something different?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/postal-service-says-it-has-ample-capacity-to-handle-election-after-trump-casts-doubt/ar-BB17wKmM?li=BBnb7Kz

But the letter -- dated July 22 and sent in response to a congressional inquiry about service changes at the USPS -- does confirm the USPS is taking "immediate steps to increase operational efficiency by re-emphasizing existing operational plans." It also makes the case that these efforts are "clearly within the legal authority of the Postmaster General" and do not require approval from Congress of the USPS Board of Governors, every member of which is now a Trump appointee.

And on Friday, American Post Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein told CNN that new, recently implemented US Postal Service procedures -- which have led to delays across the country in mail delivery -- could affect mail-in voting for the November election. He said that the union, which represents more than 200,000 Postal Service employees and retirees, has received a number of reports from postal workers and customers over the last two weeks that mail delivery has slowed and "degraded."

Under the leadership of the new postmaster general, Trump loyalist Louis DeJoy, USPS is seeing a slowing of mail delivery in some places. The agency has recently implemented new efforts that workers blame for delivery delays of at least two days across the country -- prompting fears that many ballots may not reach election offices in time if the problems aren't corrected by November.

[Sherman A1]

5. I have my doubts about ample capacity.

We’ve regularly had missed deliveries and today we got mail at 8:15 am and again at 11:30am. The first delivery being our mail from last Thursday and Friday.

[virgogal]

8. Couldn't agree more. About 2 mos ago I mailed two bills,checks enclosed,and neither was

delivered. I mailed them in the boxes outside of the post office---the new type with the very narrow slits. I had to stop payment on both checks.

[Hip2bSquare]

6. Fantastic news...still drop it off

Drop it off...drive, walk or bus to a drop off location and completely bypass the post office. Here in Colorado it's mail in ballots, I know exactly where drop off locations are and drop it off.

Drop it off!

[lagomorph777]

17. In Virginia, I have looked up where to drop it off (County Registrar's office).

I suggest every voter investigate and do this, if it is possible in their jursidiction (and if the voter is able to do it).

However, assuming Turd's postmaster (NoJoy) fucks up the system enough to delay the mail by a week, and you must mail your ballot, please mail it as EARLY as you possibly can. We need to lock in as many votes as possible, and can't afford to waste a single one.

[ananda]

7. No way I will mail my ballot.

This is one large clusterfuck.

[C Moon]

9. They haven't gotten their stories straight yet.

Post Master Gen.: "Wait. I thought we we're supposed to take this slow—so the Dems don't have time to react in November."
Trump: "Huh? Oh yeah. I'll deny I said that then, too."

[Nyleve]

11. U.S.P.S.

Why can't the states use the National Guard to help the post office with mail in ballots only?

[Progressive Jones]

13. Not necessary. See my post below (#12). nt

[live love laugh]

15. Why? The USPS just acknowledged they can handle it. nt

[Progressive Jones]

12. My wife is a supervisor in a large USPS Processing and Distribution Center in the Chicago area.

She tells me they can handle this as easily as any other delivery, even IF every ballot was mailed on the same day,
which isn't going to happen.

Trump and the others think everyone is as dumb as Trump's base.

[qwlauren35]

16. I don't believe it for a second.

My mail has been late for the past two weeks. I started researching articles, and saw several that I trust.

Washington Post

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes, according to internal USPS documents obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the American Postal Workers Union and three people with knowledge of their contents, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.

Fortune

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” So goes the unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service (USPS), adapted in 1912 from The Persian Wars by Herodotus and inscribed in the stone atop the main USPS building in New York City.

The inscription, however, leaves out the quest for profit, which is currently threatening the "swift" delivery of mail.

Nearly 6,190 USPS employees, deemed essential workers, have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 60 have died.

The end of overtime work and other changes come as the Postal Service staff finds itself stretched thin.
Data obtained by the American Postal Workers Union, which represents about 200,000 postal workers, shows that nearly 20% of all work by mail handlers, city carriers, and postal drivers is done in overtime.

“Overtime will be eliminated…If the plants run late they will keep the mail for the next day,” reads an internal memo reviewed by Fortune. “If we cannot deliver all the mail due to call offs or shortage of people and you have no other help, the mail will not go out.”

CNN

New, recently implemented US Postal Service procedures -- which have led to delays across the country in mail delivery -- could affect mail-in voting for the November election, a union leader warned.

He told CNN that while postal workers are capable of handling voting by mail, "obviously if the postal management is putting in policies to slow down the mail, then that has an impact on everything, including ballots."

The Washington Post reported Thursday that bins of mail otherwise ready for delivery have been left in post offices due to the scheduling and route changes, and letter carriers are sorting more mail themselves, increasing the delivery time. US Rep. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, last week wrote to DeJoy, saying that his constituents have been experiencing delivery delays for more than three days.

In a statement to CNN Thursday, the USPS acknowledged some "temporary service impacts" from the recent changes but disputed concerns that its cost cutting and efficiency measures put in place by DeJoy will interfere with timely delivery of mail-in votes.