With Trump Donor in Charge, USPS May Shut Locations, Cut Service Before Election

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Cutting service and shuttering locations are both under consideration by the U.S. Postal Service as the agency faces a cash crunch ahead of an expected surge in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a sitting U.S. senator and numerous postal worker union officials.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., sent a letter to recently-installed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding an explanation about reports looming closures and service cuts from postal workers in his home state. The concerns were raised after DeJoy, a major Trump donor, pushed for drastic cost-cutting measures when he took over the agency last month, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Manchin’s letter detailed reports that “numerous post office locations in my state and across the nation … are scheduled for imminent closure or significant reduction in hours and service.”

Some post offices in West Virginia have hung signs announcing their proposed closure at the end of August, he wrote.

A West Virginia postal workers union official corroborated the reports received by Manchin, noting that 26 offices in just one region of the state are being forced to reduce service to less than four hours a day (along with service cuts at 31 other locations).

“A lot of this has been dropped on us with little or no communication,” Elizabeth Coonan, a steward for the American Postal Workers Union Local 3264 in Clarksburg, told Vice News. “The times that they’re slating [the offices] to close is when they do a lot of business.”

https://truthout.org/articles/with-...y-shut-locations-cut-service-before-election/

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Mail delays likely as new postal boss pushes cost-cutting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general. The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and says employees must adopt a “different mindset” to ensure the Postal Service’s survival during the coronavirus pandemic.

Late trips will no longer be authorized. If postal distribution centers are running late, “they will keep the mail for the next day,″ Postal Service leaders say in a document obtained by The Associated Press. “One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that — temporarily — we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks,″ another document says.

https://apnews.com/59c25efd4d325c4895f8ba85517f9bfd
 
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