Mar—News broke early Friday evening that DeJoy plans to slow mail delivery even more by scaling back first-class mail, and he plans to raise postage rates significantly.1 The impact of these changes on vital services would be huge: Bills and correspondence would be delayed even more than they have been, at a time while we're already seeing wide-scale delays in medication and package deliveries. Will you sign the petition calling for new bosses to be appointed who can fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy?
Dear fellow MoveOn member,
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is a Trump enabler who currently manages the day-to-day operations of the USPS. DeJoy is one of Trump's cronies who kept his job after President Joe Biden's inauguration, and the post office could be stuck with him if we don't act now.
The United States Postal Service is a public good. They deliver to every address regardless of location, which is important, especially for people who live somewhere rural or hard to access. They deliver essential, lifesaving prescription medication and have continued to deliver important packages for small businesses and families alike. They are the backbone of our democracy, especially during this pandemic, when they delivered over 100 million ballots for the 2020 election. The USPS keeps our society going and has been the truest of essential services.
Despite all of this, Louis DeJoy deliberately sabotaged the functioning of the USPS by eliminating overtime pay, reducing retail hours, closing and consolidating post office locations, removing mail-sorting machines before the election, and implementing tactics to slow down delivery speeds.2 These delays disproportionately targeted communities of color, which added insult to injury after decades of voter suppression against Black and non-Black communities of color.3
The board of governors oversees the activities of the Postal Service. They can hire and fire the postmaster general, review all practices of the USPS, and along with the Postal Regulatory Commission, set policies for the Postal Service. The board currently has a Republican majority, but only because there are three empty Democratic seats.
Pressure from people like you and me works. This summer, a coalition formed to come to the defense of the post office, and we saw over 1,100 events at local post offices across the country. Both the House and the Senate called DeJoy to testify about the service cuts in August.4 Federal Court Judge Stanley Bastian called DeJoy's changes "a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service."5 After public outcry, our advocacy, and multiple lawsuits, DeJoy was pressured into reversing all slowdown changes before Election Day. But DeJoy immediately began reinstating those changes on November 4. Our advocacy and pressure must continue.
DeJoy has said that he's working on a 10-year plan for the post office that will come out soon, and we can expect it to feature more attacks against Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and rural communities; more price hikes and service cuts; and other measures to carry out Trump's OMB report calling for the post office to be privatized and sold for parts. He's already announced plans to cut service to Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.6
The stakes couldn't be higher: We saw the effects of Louis DeJoy's pet project to slow down the mail, jack up prices, and privatize the post office in the middle of a pandemic that is decimating the postal workforce. 20,000 postal workers either tested positive for COVID-19 or were quarantining due to exposure leading up to the holidays. Postal workers were pushed to their breaking point, working double shifts to deliver our packages. The volume increase was entirely predictable, and DeJoy did not plan for it.
If we don't stop Louis DeJoy now, a national treasure will be lost. That's why President Biden and the Senate must fill the empty seats on the Postal Board of Governors with pro-post office members who will prioritize the mandate of the USPS to serve all of us and will stop DeJoy's ideological project to kill the agency in its tracks.
Thanks!
–Stephanie Apollon, Save the Post Office Coalition
Sources:
1. "Postmaster general's new plan for USPS is said to include slower mail and higher prices," The Washington Post, February 12, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/150008?t=11&akid=290297%2E10220574%2ECY8vmL
2. "Who Is Louis DeJoy? U.S. Postmaster General In Spotlight Ahead Of 2020 Election," NPR, August 21, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/149879?t=13&akid=290297%2E10220574%2ECY8vmL
3. "The Postal Service is Under Attack. Our Research Shows Who This Hurts Most," Union of Concerned Scientists, October 19, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/149853?t=15&akid=290297%2E10220574%2ECY8vmL
4. "Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, will testify before the Senate on Friday about service cuts," The New York Times, August 18, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/149880?t=18&akid=290297%2E10220574%2ECY8vmL
5. "Judge blocks 'politically motivated' changes to U.S. Postal Service ahead of election," Reuters, September 17, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/149881?t=20&akid=290297%2E10220574%2ECY8vmL
6. "Postal Service will prioritize ballots over other mail, postmaster general testifies," The Washington Post, August 21, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/21/dejoy-testimony-usps-senate/
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