Oct 14, 20204 min read

Financial and electoral pressures mount on USPS

Updated: Oct 16, 2020

By Breanna Lu and Miranda Lu Oct. 14, 2020

Ivan Zhu Art

Amidst nationwide delays in mail delivery and allegations of financial collusion, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has postponed cost-cutting changes to the United States Postal Service (USPS) until after the November presidential election.

Contrary to popular belief, the Postal Service is not funded by tax dollars, relying rather on revenue from postage stamps and website merchandise. With COVID-19 exacerbating financial difficulties, the USPS has sunk even further into debt. Since Congress enacted the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006—requiring the USPS to prepay 75 years’ worth of retiree health benefits—the USPS has been short on funding. A report by the Pew Research Center found that the Postal Service has been unable to make any profit since then, with cumulative losses totaling $83.1 billion. Shelter-in-place and social distancing orders have only compounded financial strains, creating surges in online shopping and forcing the USPS to hire thousands of additional workers it cannot afford.

Since his appointment in June, DeJoy has made significant changes to the department in response to financial difficulties—eliminating overtime for postal workers, cutting post office hours and ordering the removal of hundreds of blue postal drop boxes. Nationwide, DeJoy’s decisions have caused a massive amount of delivery delays, doubling monthly shipping costs and delivery times, which has been most detrimental to small businesses who rely heavily on the USPS for shipping orders. Several small business owners report that packages previously taking only a few days to deliver now take several weeks.

The set backs have also had an impact on elections. According to the New York Times, over one million absentee ballots were mailed late during primary elections. Greatly increasing the likelihood of the ballots not getting counted, this phenomenon has raised concerns among those who have opted to vote by mail for the presidential election. Many states have requested extensions for mailing ballot deadlines to give voters more time to send ballots.

The set backs have also had an impact on elections. According to the New York Times, over one million absentee ballots were mailed late during primary elections.

“I have not noticed delays in shipping, but I think they are likely to affect the election in a negative manner. If the ballots were mailed out late, people will not be able to fill them out on time, and depending on where they live, different regions might not be able to get their votes in,” Sophomore Maggie Liu said.

Although DeJoy has temporarily suspended changes until after the presidential election, he has stated that he does not intend to reinstall the hundreds of mail sorting machines and postal boxes that were removed. He has also yet to lift a ban on extra mail trips for surplus packages, a staple for USPS employees. Due to DeJoy’s rhetoric, the District of Columbia and six states sued the Postmaster General on Aug. 21, arguing that his reforms would sabotage the agency’s ability to function successfully during the election.

“Voters should try to fill out and send in their ballots as soon as possible to increase the chance of getting their vote counted. If social distancing rules are enforced, they could also consider dropping off their ballots at a local polling booth,” Sophomore Mithali Iyer said.

DeJoy has been heavily criticized by politicians and the general public, with many questioning whether or not his actions were influenced by political biases. From his avid support for the Trump administration, some have surmised that DeJoy’s adjustments to the USPS were intended to sabotage the Democratic Party during the presidential election. Dejoy has been summoned to testify in front of the Senate and House Oversight Committees despite backlash from Republicans, justifying the reforms as necessary to process vast amounts of election mail, for which the USPS is currently unprepared.

Allegations of a conflict of interest have also been made against DeJoy due to his stakes in the company XPO Logistics. True North Research executive director Lisa Graves stated that the company “could financially benefit from privatizing or parting out the U.S. Postal Service.” DeJoy has denied all allegations, claiming that his decisions were in the best interest of the Postal Service.

Moreover, President Donald Trump, who has been openly hostile towards mail-in voting, has refused to approve a $25 billion relief fund for the Postal Service, states Business Insider. He further insisted that 2020 will be a flawed election due to the USPS’s inability to handle election ballots. Critics warn Trump’s attacks on vote-by-mail elections and DeJoy’s controversial decisions regarding the USPS are steps to politicize and privatize an independent government agency.

While there may be significant delays in the USPS, voters can improve the probability of their votes getting counted by filling out and sending in their ballots as soon as they receive them or dropping them off at a polling station.

While there may be significant delays in the USPS, voters can improve the probability of their votes getting counted by filling out and sending in their ballots as soon as they receive them or dropping them off at a polling station. With the USPS’s current crisis, no one is sure of when the shipping speed will return to normal, compelling voters and businesses to continue to learn how to adapt to the delays.

About the Contributors

Breanna Lu

Breanna Lu is a freshman and a new staff writer. She enjoys binge watching sci-fi movies and her favorite book genre is murder mysteries/crime fiction. In her free time, you will most likely find her asleep or chatting with her friends.