Free Republic

This actually falls under the "you won't believe this" section, but I felt it was worth sharing.

I realize there are many more pressing problems in our nation and world today than what I’m about to discuss, but these issues are already being addressed very well right now by others. What’s not getting much attention — and I feel needs to — are the ongoing failures within the US Postal Service. The USPS has been in a nosedive, downward spiral for years and it’s only getting worse. While this agency continues to raise prices and continues to operate as an unsustainable, failing business, the service has gotten so bad now I feel we must address the situation...

USPS workers will also replace 20,000 Social Security workers. "We spend $40 billion every 10 years doing the census. And that means we hire 625,000 people. And they go, and they rent cars and gas, and you pay them food... They go to every household and count the people." "What department do we already have that already employs 625,000 people? It's got cars, already has gas, and goes to every household. [Answer: USPS]." "They can go to your house when you have a baby and give you the form for Social Security. And the 20,000 Social Security officers that we...

WASHINGTON — President Trump revealed Friday that he’s considering merging the US Postal Service with the Commerce Department. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that his administration is looking at a “merger” of the two government institutions to increase efficiency. “We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money, and we’re thinking about doing that, and will be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better than it has been over the years,” Trump said. He had floated the consideration...

A United States Postal Service (USPS) supervisor was arrested Thursday after allegedly stealing more than 20 checks, totaling over $281,000. Joivian Tjuana Hayes, a worker at the Costa Mesa Post Office in California, allegedly stole numerous checks, including one for more than $114,000 and allegedly deposited them into her account, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Officials said the checks contained forged signatures and surveillance footage allegedly caught the 36-year-old depositing the checks at ATM machines scattered throughout the cities of Costa Mesa, Compton, and Fountain Valley. Hayes allegedly began depositing the checks in...

President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks, three people with knowledge of the matter said, a move that could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains and push hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of the government. Trump has discussed his desire to overhaul the Postal Service at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary and the co-chair of his presidential transition, the people said. Earlier this month, Trump also convened a group of transition officials to ask for their views on privatizing the...

A United States Post Office clerk went into work the day after the 2024 presidential election wearing Trump attire and was asked to change clothes. Michelle Albert, 57, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says she felt “violated and embarrassed” soon after beginning her shift at the distribution center in Warrendale. “It’s the day after he won,” she says. “You should be able to wear what you want. Michelle began her workday like any other. “At 3:00 PM, I clocked in and I was staying there waiting for our pre-sort,” she recalls. “My MDO [manager, distribution operations] walked up to me. She came...

A United States Postal Service worker has been arrested and charged with disposing of more than 1,000 pieces of election mail, including ballots and political campaign mailers. USPS employee Ottis McCoy, stationed in Orlando, Florida, was charged with discarding more than 1,000 pieces of mail instead of delivering them to their addresses, McCoy is charged with stealing, taking, or abstracting mail and faces a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum of five years in prison. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service inspector Charles Johnsten observed surveillance footage showing McCoy “throwing large quantities of U.S. Mail into [a] wooded lot,”...

A special set of stamps have been issued to mark the 60th anniversary of British rock band The Who. The Royal Mail revealed details of 12 stamps which feature images of some of the rock band's most popular album covers and group shots from their live performances. The album covers are My Generation from 1965; Tommy from 1969; Who's Next from 1971; Quadrophenia from 1973; Who Are You from 1978; Face Dances from 1981; Endless Wire from 2006; and Who from 2019. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon formed The Who in 1964. A miniatures sheet features...

The union’s Georgia president, whose name appears at the bottom of the letter, claims it was sent without his permission: ‘I had no idea they were sending out a letter with my name.’If former President Donald Trump wins November’s election, he would pose an “existential threat” — at least according to a letter apparently from the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), obtained by The Federalist.“If Donald Trump wins the upcoming election, it could prove an existential threat to our union and our contract,” the letter reads. “Your vote matters: consider how the consequences could affect you, your job, and...

On January 12, 2024, Judge Kathryn Kimball ruled the federal ban on possession of firearms in post offices is unconstitutional because it violates the Second Amendment. The United States indicted Emmanuel Ayala, a postal worker, for possessing a firearm in a Federal facility in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 930(a). Ayala argues that statute is unconstitutional as applied to him because the historical record does not support a law banning firearms in post offices. See N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). Relying on dicta from earlier cases, the United States responds that the Second...

A postal carrier who federal prosecutors said was caught on camera stealing cash, lottery tickets, gift cards and other items from the mail in western New York has avoided a prison sentence. After community members in Rochester complained to the U.S. Postal Service that “their mail had been tampered with,” surveillance cameras were installed in the employee’s delivery vehicles and recorded her from January 2022 to November 2023, according to court documents. On 38 separate occasions, the mail carrier was seen rifling through nearly 90 pieces of mail she was meant to deliver along her route, court documents said. After...

On Monday, a 63-year-old female mail carrier was robbed at gunpoint by two thugs while delivering mail in Dublin, California. Surveillance video of the incident shows the carrier, who has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 33 years, delivering mail in a quiet residential neighborhood around 4:30 p.m. when suddenly a masked man emerges behind her. A second masked individual follows closely behind. Suddenly, a masked man comes up behind the mail carrier, followed by a second person who is also masked and the two masked men pull a gun. KTVC reports: “Somebody came up behind me and ‘boom,’...

A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern California mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record for the season on Sunday in the Sierra Nevada. The wet weather system had mostly moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slick after around two feet (60 centimeters) of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra. “Did anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season being in May on their winter bingo card?” the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab asked on the social...

A paid a visit to the local Post Office today. At the counter, I was told that the branch had no postage stamps available for purchase. None, nada, zero. How is this possible?

In January of 2023, a Florida federal district Court restored the right to keep and bear arms on United States Postal Service (USPS) property. The court ruled a statute banning the possession of guns on USPS property, dating from 1972, was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Currently, the ruling only applies to the individual case in Florida. The USPS has issued a statement aimed at employees, stating the USPS policy has not changed. From the USPS: A recent Florida district court decision is being misreported or may be misinterpreted as holding that the Postal Service’s ban on carrying firearms —...

In Florida, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has ruled that the federal law prohibiting people from possessing firearms inside post offices is unconstitutional. The ruling is based on the 2022 Supreme Court ruling New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen recognized a person’s right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.The case concerned Emmanuel Ayala, a U.S. Postal Service truck driver, who had a concealed weapons permit and held a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun in a fanny pack for self-defense. When police tried to stop him, he ran and struggled with officers. While dismissing the...

Afederal judge has declared that a law banning Americans from possessing guns in postal offices is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida ruled Friday that a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2022 made the postal office gun ban illegal. As part of the decision, she dismissed part of an indictment charging postal worker Emmanuel Ayala with illegally possessing a gun in a federal building. She said the criminal charge violated Ayala’s 2nd Amendment rights. [link to judge's opinion included in article]

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt said Eskom’s generation and distribution divisions are slowly dying, similar to South African Airways (SAA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO). Roodt made these comments during a Firstpathway Partners webinar on how the United States has emerged as a secure sanctuary for many South Africans. “Only the transmission part will remain, and the rest of Eskom will just slowly die and come to an end,” he said. Roodt previously explained that Eskom is completely bankrupt. “It has been operationally and financially run into the ground. It does not work anymore,” he said. Eskom currently owes...

Authorities are offering a reward as they search for a suspect who attacked and robbed a U.S. Postal Service worker at a post office location in San Francisco on Tuesday. According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the incident took place at the Pine Street post office located at 1400 Pine Street. Officers said the suspect punched an employee and ran off with postal keys. Surveillance video shows the suspected robber running down the street, holding what is believed to be the keys. The suspect is shown wearing a hood and a face mask.