Save the US Postal Service

Louis DeJoy is a Greensboro resident. He was recently appointed Postmaster General of the US Postal Service.

Read further down to find out why this wasn't, perhaps, a great idea.

Hundreds of thousands of local businesses rely on Postal Service rates to conduct their business, including Scuppernong Books, and other independent bookstores and small presses.

Hundreds of thousands rely on the Postal Service to deliver their medications, paychecks, and other important documents.

In rural communities, the Post Office serves as a bank, where one can buy money orders.

The Postal Service also provides a safe and secure way to vote, for those who are homebound, immuno-compromised, or far from a polling place.

We urge you to write Louis DeJoy at his home and demand that he preserve the US Postal Service as the vital and expansive government service it is Constutionally mandated to be.

The address is above.

You can also write his office: 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, D.C.

His foundation: http://louisdejoyandaldonawosfamilyfoundation.com/

Or Elon College, where he is on the Board: presidentsoffice@elon.edu

 

If you need more information, the following comes from Indy Week in Raleigh, NC.

"Have you noticed that you're getting less and less mail, and sometimes not at all? It's not because you're being sent less mail; it's because the U.S. Postal Service is being squeezed to a pulp by the Trump administration. And no one is more responsible than Trump's new postmaster general, Greensboro businessman Louis DeJoy

  • DeJoy, 63, is a GOP megadonor who was named postmaster general in June. FEC records show he's given nearly $1.8 million to GOP campaigns since January 2019, including more than $1 million to the Trump Victory Fund. 
  • His wife is former North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos. When DeJoy took over, the Washington Post reported that the couple had as much as $75 million tied up in investments in competitors and contractors for the USPS. 
  • Since his arrival, the New York Times reported last week, "the service has stopped paying mail carriers and clerks the overtime necessary to ensure that deliveries can be completed each day. That and other changes have led to reports of letters and packages being delayed by as many as several days."
  • In a statement last week, DeJoy called for "legislative and regulatory reforms" from Congress, whatever that means, but said: "The Postal Service is in a financially unsustainable position, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume, and a broken business model. We are currently unable to balance our costs with available funding sources to fulfill both our universal service mission and other legal obligations. Because of this, the Postal Service has experienced over a decade of financial losses, with no end in sight, and we face an impending liquidity crisis."
  • The Postal Service is famously not a business. it's a public service, something that's exceedingly rare in this country, and that's why it's much cheaper to use than UPS or FedEx until you get into sending larger packages.
  • American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein, a former Greensboro postal worker, told the Charlotte Observer (in what was otherwise an extremely puffy profile with accounts from DeJoy's friends of how good he is at business, which, again, is not what the Postal Service is):  "We’re getting reports from all over the country of backed-up mail. (DeJoy’s) words say, ‘I’m here to help the post office.’ The deeds say something different that is undermining the institution." (It's not like anyone needs the mail right now, what with record unemployment numbers. Nope, not at all.)
  • Both Democrats and Republicans are furious at DeJoy's "reforms," the AP reports.
  • It shouldn't be lost on anyone, either, that the credibility of the Post Office is purposefully being tanked in the lead-up to an election where mail-in voting is expected to skyrocket and the President spends half of his time attempting to discredit the process.
    • Earlier this week, the Trump campaign sued the state of Nevada over its new mail-in voting law.
    • If you plan to vote by mail, which you should considering we have no clue what the state's coronavirus numbers will look like in three months, you should request your ballot ASAP. Seriously, go do it now. (Or later. But do it.)
  • Did you know, from a 2019 Institute for Policy Studies report: "In 2006, Congress passed a law that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation. If the costs of this retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years."
  • Long story short: If you're lucky enough to see your neighborhood's mail delivery person anytime soon, thank them. "

Here's an extra story from The Charlotte Observer on Aldona Wos's controversial tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services. She resigned a few days after subpoenas were served: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article38015070.html

Here's a partial listing of Louis DeJoy's political contributions.

Financial disclosures reveal postmaster general's business entanglements and likely conflicts of interest, experts say.

Sorting equipment removed from Post Offices

Louis DeJoy is on the Elon University Board of Trustees. Here's a petition you can sign to support removing him.

Louis DeJoy is removing postal boxes in some cities.

Long Mail Delays are Hurting Vulnerable People.

John Oliver on the US Postal Service