Postmaster General Fails to Deliver

Postmaster Louis DeJoy sat before a House committee hearing Monday (Aug.24). He was given the opportunity to explain to the American people how the Postal Service has become an agency that has millions of Americans concerned. The post office under DeJoy has come under intense scrutiny after what has been seen as a severe drop in overall ability to deliver the mail in a timely manner. DeJoy has been in charge for about two months, but the motives behind such a severe drop in services has been cynical; many voters/customers who have contacted their representatives in Washington wanting to know what has happened to the agency’s ability to deliver the mail in such a short period of time. The evidence seems to suggest that mail delivery and other services started to rapidly decline after President Trump had DeJoy selected as the new postmaster. It should be noted that postmaster general is selected by the Board of Governors for the Postal Service. However, questions began almost since day one if President Trump’s motives were to sabotage the mail delivery because there is expected to be an unprecedented effort in mail delivery that the postal service must meet, having to ensure that all ballots will be delivered during the 2020 election season. The president is also keenly aware that mail in ballot instead of in person voting may hamper his chances to win reelection in November. The president would have voters show up at the polls even as the death toll from COVID-19 may be 200,000 by then. Only the postal service can ensure that all ballots can be received on time, but delays in mail delivery under DeJoy’s reign, could undermine an accurate and timely counting of the votes.

Republicans know this, and that is probably why they did not ask DeJoy any tough questions since he would have to give detailed answers to their questions. Republicans bashed Democrats for an “unnecessary waste” of time, saying that the “American people are sick” of Democrats’ showboating. Republicans used their time to defend DeJoy without him speaking for himself and spoke of the postal service as if nothing was wrong. If anyone saw the hearing, Republicans only paid lip service to the fall elections as they defended both DeJoy and President Trump, accusing Democrats of trying to defeat Trump in the fall. Republicans know that DeJoy doesn’t have any experience as a postal employee, or in any other capacity with the postal service. It was reported that DeJoy allegedly didn’t make the “first cut” early in the selection process. Nevertheless, somehow he got the job. It was also clear that DeJoy didn’t have the knowledge to adequately respond to questions concerning postal policies that were already in place, nor could he comment on any future policies that he may implement. On the question of overtime being cut, DeJoy said that he “didn’t have anything” to do with that. When shown a memo from someone in the managerial chain that overtime would be cut, DeJoy not only said that he “didn’t know” who wrote the memo, but he wasn’t about to find out who it was. Somehow that must have slipped past the ears of Republicans, as none of them asked DeJoy why he wouldn’t want to know. Republicans didn’t press DeJoy about people not getting medicine on time or experiencing long delays when they do get their mail. Republicans didn’t ask DeJoy about reports of rotting fruits and dead baby chicks not being delivered on time. Republicans appeared not to want to hear answers because it would have meant that they would need to ask follow up questions as Democrats did. Republicans didn’t ask DeJoy about how COVID-19 has affected the post office as a whole, as DeJoy said that 83 people have died, thousands in quarantine and yet he is pushing for early retirements. The postmaster general also showed a poor knowledge of postage rates, something that a chief executive should know.

As a former employee of the Postal Service, it is insulting to have someone who has no experience in doing the kind of work that I did on a daily basis, tell me that he/she can do a better job. Back in the day, someone like DeJoy would have been seen as “a hatchet man”. Someone who could screw things up so bad that morale would be affected, job productivity would suffer and even if grievances were brought before management, things didn’t change for the good. As a Mail Handler, I was on the front line when mail came to the loading docks at the post office and we Mail Handlers knew our jobs because we interacted with the public on a daily basis. We were the craft that put the mail in the system through dumping, culling, operating cancelling machines and making sure that other crafts (sorting machine operators) could do their jobs. All of us were a team and we did our jobs. The Postal Service was a governmental agency that was respected, but DeJoy has tarnished that image in a short period of time. Republicans and DeJoy seems to not understand that even postal employees receive their mail through the same agency for which they work. Mr. DeJoy appears to be a poor choice made by President Trump to run the Postal Service (only hiring the best), as the president has never cared for the Postal Service and he doesn’t want it to be a conduit that may be a reason why he may lose in November. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.