Posted on 10/09/2021 6:17:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is drowning in red ink, having lost $9.2 billion in 2020 alone. Things weren’t looking rosy before the pandemic, either. In fact, America’s mail carrier has shed more than $80 billion over the past 15 years. When faced with such gargantuan losses, many businesses swiftly introduce far-reaching changes to pivot back to profitability. But owing to the strange, tangled status of the USPS as a government-managed enterprise, key decisions to get the agency back into the black are undermined by the actions of other branches of government. In recent years, the judicial branch has played a particularly large role in interfering with the USPS’s operations. With some much-needed clarity from the bench, the agency can get back to delivering for the American people.
Until the past couple of years, the daily operations of the USPS largely escaped judicial attention. There were some notable employment discrimination cases, and even an interesting dispute over the Establishment Clause. Yet, key decisions over how the agency fulfills its universal service obligation were largely left to postal leadership and Congress. Fast forward to the 2020 Election, which was rife with wild conspiracies alleging that America’s mail carrier was trying to steal the election for then-President Trump… or resident Biden, depending on who you asked. Various states and individuals took the USPS to court, claiming that operational changes such as removing mail collection boxes from street corners and sorting machines from postal facilities was unlawful and undermined voting rights.
These allegations were made – and largely escaped judicial scrutiny – despite the fact that the USPS ordinarily removes thousands of collection boxes and sorting machines from circulation each year. Perhaps it did not occur to the plaintiffs that consolidating the agency’s overbuilt network could actually make things more efficient and even expedite the vote-by-mail process. The judges tasked with hearing these cases, though, certainly did not see things this way. On September 17, 2020, Chief Judge Stanley A. Bastian of Washington’s Eastern District declared that “voter disenfranchisement” was at the “heart of DeJoy’s and the Postal Service’s actions” and issued an injunction requiring a halt to operational changes. Just a few days later, Southern District Judge Victor Marrero ruled similarly against the USPS.
Judicial interference in federal agency decisions is hardly new or unwarranted. After all, agencies exceed their statutory authority all the time in far-reaching actions with clumsy, half-baked legal justifications. Courts, though, generally limit themselves to reviewing final agency actions (i.e., the last steps in the rulemaking process). This is hard to apply to an agency that operates “on the fly” like a business and regularly changes the location of mail collection boxes without much input.
The court has previously ruled that the USPS requires approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission for changes that have “some meaningful impact of service” over a “broad geographical area,” but that elaboration opens up a broad range of changes such as the layout of post offices, rules on mailboxes, and collection box removal to regulatory scrutiny. The court’s broad language, along with the judiciary’s recent forays into postal policy and limitations imposed by unions and lawmakers, makes it difficult for the agency to embrace any meaningful reform. It’s little wonder that, instead of taking sensible steps to limit the number of delivery days, allow USPS services at retail outlets, and streamline their overbuilt network, the USPS feels forced to degrade their service standards.
The Postal Service needn’t slow down the mail to stay afloat. There are plenty of reform options, but meaningful change can only come if the agency gets a green light from the black robes. Overregulation and judicial overreach will only result in another costly taxpayer bailout.
They do so much out sourcing, they will NEVER break even or make a profit. Amazon is making out like a bandit though.
They are actually making a profit on a operating basis. Their problem is they have to pay huge amounts into their pension plan to make up for past shortfalls.
On a 15 mile stretch of road we have 4 post offices, two of them 2 miles apart (both small town).
Tuesday I sent a package to the IRS priority express (overnight), it took 24 hrs to get from my PO to Pontiac (about 30 miles). So the Wednesday guaranteed delivery became Friday to Austin TX. The PO refunded my money without issue.
No wonder they are in the red.
Did he speak with any postal workers? My mail carrier complained when they closed the closest sorting station and doubled the load on the one farther away without adding any extra workers.
I think instead of paying pension funds for 75 years into the future, they should make it 30 years. Nobody is going to get a pension for 75 years. 30 years many might.
Darn it I planned on living to 140!
The PO is a union shop. All you need to know.
Best laid plans and all. I’ll make an exception and hope your plan goes without a hitch.
Large senders of mail—like the DMV-—DO NOT pay full price for postage.
Neither does AMAZON.
Spot on.....and yet Amazon packages get treated like express mail packages. Trump was correct.....Amazon has been screwing the USPS for years
The USPS doesn’t need to slow down service. They need to raise First Class rates (and other rates) to a reasonable level.
Could Fedex or UPS deliver a letter from NY to CA for 58 cents? No, and they wouldn’t even try. Really $1.00 or even $2.00 would be a bargain.
I had a couple of small vacuum tubes (12AX7s) sent first class from Phoenix to N.Ga this week, First Class was $4.00, next cheapest option was UPS Ground at $13.50.
I’d rather pay more for good service versus having 1st Class letters and packages take 5 days, which is what they are talking about now.
I sent an envelope on a Tuesday from our main post office to another post office 2 miles away in the same city. They told me first class wouldn’t get to the other post office until Saturday so I paid for priority to get it there before Friday. It never got delivered until the following Tuesday. Seven days to get a priority envelope delivered in the same city.
Fortunately you have that option with FedEx and UPS.
Postal workers have a good deal going. They can't be fired no matter how nasty they are to customers and they get vacation time plus 15 federal holidays off. Our local radio host reported that the average salary of the workers in our city was $80,000.
—”No wonder they are in the red.”
Medinah, Illinois a nice little berg of 2,000, has its own post office! Nextdoor Bloomingdale pop 22,000, Schaumburg 74,000...
WHY?
Because Medinah Country Club cannot exist without their own post office and postmark!!!
I live in Clarksville,TN. If I get a mail from a local address it comes from Nashville because the mail is send to Nashville from one of our post offices. Our post office for our area is only about a mile away.
Large senders of mail—like the DMV-—DO NOT pay full price for postage.
Of course not. There is the individual letters from business or individuals, then there are bulk mailers, like the utility company who send nearly every address in the service area a letter (bill) every month and pay a marginal cost of cents per letter. Bulk mailers also pay an often substantial fixed fee to send letters on the bulk rate and also have to meet other standards (e.g. pre-sorted).
“...having lost $9.2 billion in 2020 alone.” Gosh...I wonder where we’ll find all that money.
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