USPS chief concedes changes causing delays but won’t restore sorting machines

 

USPS chief concedes changes causing delays but won’t restore sorting machines

 

Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor, made appearance before Congress amid scrutiny over agency’s management

 

Sam Levine in New York

Fri 21 Aug 2020 18.43 BSTLast modified on Fri 21 Aug 2020 19.14 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/21/usps-louis-dejoy-senate-hearing-mail-in-voting

 

America’s postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, conceded on Friday he had implemented recent changes that led to mail delays at the United States Postal Service (USPS) but said he would not reverse the decision to remove mail equipment ahead of the election.

 

DeJoy, a major Republican donor without prior USPS experience, made his first appearance before Congress amid widespread scrutiny over the mail delays and his management of the agency since taking over in June.

 

Mail-in voting is set to be a key feature of the November election due to the health threats potentially posed by in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats and civil liberties groups have raised concerns that the actions taken at the post office could amount to a campaign of voter suppression.

 

DeJoy said he implemented a change instructing USPS trucks to leave on time, regardless of whether all the mail was ready to go out. The move led to outcry from postal workers who said a fundamental principle at the USPS has been to not leave mail behind, no matter what. DeJoy said in theory, the move should have led to more efficient delivery, but conceded that hadn’t happened.

 

“Unfortunately, our production process within the plants was not fully aligned with this established schedule. So we had some delays in the mail, and our recovery process in this should have been a few days and it’s mounted to be a few weeks,” he said. “The only change that I made was that the trucks leave on time. Theoretically, everyone should have got their mail faster.”

 

 

Pressed by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat, DeJoy declined to say what kind of analysis, if any, USPS had done before implementing the changes.

 

After widespread outcry, DeJoy announced earlier this week he was suspending recent changes at the agency until after the election. But when Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, pressed him on whether he would restore hundreds of mail sorting machines that have been decommissioned, DeJoy said he would not, noting that mail volume had declined.

 

“There’s no intention to do that. They’re not needed,” DeJoy said.

 

The USPS had planned to take 671 mail sorting machines out of service this year. The number of sorting machines decommissioned under DeJoy has jumped significantly from prior years, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. Losing the machines, in combination with other cuts, has led to mail moving more slowly through postal facilities, postal workers say, including in Los Angeles, where bugs swarmed packages with rotted meat and vegetables, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 

The postmaster general also said he had been unaware of plans to remove the sorting machines and mailboxes until they were widely reported. He said 700 mailboxes had been removed since he became postmaster general, but said that was part of a regular process and 35,000 had been removed over the last 10 years. While the USPS had pledged to pause mailbox removal until after the election, DeJoy said he agency would “pick it up” after.

 

David Williams, a former USPS inspector general and member of the board of governors, flatly contradicted DeJoy’s assessment of removing mail equipment during a hearing by the House Progressive Caucus on Thursday.

 

“You don’t save money by breaking down machines and putting them away and storing them. You spend money. So that was a very odd action,” Williams said. “Normally the reason to keep those machines or planks in place are in the event of a Katrina, or a 9/11, or an election, or the Covid crisis. Removing those is thinning out the postal service’s ability to redirect mail in an incident like that.”

 

Removing the mailboxes, Williams said, was “not part of ongoing plans” and was something the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, wanted done. “I asked the postal service about it, and they said it wouldn’t save anything. And there would be no reason to remove those.”

 

 

Donald Trump admitted last week he opposes additional funding for the USPS, which is in dire financial condition, because it would make it easier to vote by mail, a process he opposes.

 

DeJoy repeatedly stressed the USPS had capacity and would prioritize delivering election mail this fall. Some states use a a cheaper and slower class of service to mail out ballots, but in the past, the USPS has traditionally prioritized all election mail, regardless of what class of service it is. This year, the USPS has signaled to election officials that they will more strictly enforce the class of service, setting off alarm bells that states would have to pay more to guarantee timely delivery.

 

DeJoy said election mail would be prioritized regardless of the class of service.

 

The USPS also has long said voters should put their ballots in the mail a week ahead of election day in order to guarantee they arrive on time and recently sent warning letters to states that allow voters to request a ballot within a week of the election.

 

DeJoy said on Friday there were no changes to USPS election mail for this year and said he was “extremely highly confident” ballots mailed close to election day would be counted in time. Many states require ballots to be received by election day in order to count, regardless of when they are put in the mail. Because of concerns in mail delays, election officials are encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots as soon as possible.

 

“We will scour every plant each night leading up to election day,” he said.

 

DeJoy, who is set to appear before the House oversight committee on Monday, signaled there will probably be major changes ahead for the agency after the election.

 

“We are considering dramatic changes to improve the service to the American people,” he said.