Biden could put his stamp on USPS
Postal workers hopeful for ‘bold appointments’
PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. Postal Service’s stretch of challenges didn’t end with the November general election and tens of millions of mail-in votes. The pandemic-depleted workforce fell further into a hole during the holiday rush, leading to long hours and a mountain of delayed mail.
Postmaster General Louis Dejoy has vowed to make improvements after facing withering criticism and calls for his removal for his actions that slowed delivery of mail before the election. Some critics hoped President Joe Biden would fire Dejoy, but a president can’t do that. Instead, Biden could and probably will use appointments to reshape the Board of Governors, which meets Tuesday for the first time since his election.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on upcoming appointments.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said he’s hoping for some “bold appointments” by Biden.
“We want a Board of Governors that understands fundamentally this is not called the United States Postal Business,” he said. “It’s not a profit-making business. It’s here to serve the people.”
Despite the pandemic, on-time rates for first-class mail topped 90 percent for most of the year until
Dejoy took office in June and began instituting changes that raised concerns about the delivery of mail-in election ballots.
By the time Christmas arrived, it had gotten so bad that more than a third of first-class mail was late, even though Dejoy had backtracked on some of his changes by then.
A number of factors contributed to the nightmare.
Americans were using the Postal Service at an unprecedented level because of the pandemic. Overtime couldn’t make up for the impact of postal workers’ COVID-19 illnesses and quarantines. Commercial flights that transport mail operated on reduced schedules. And Fedex and UPS dumped packages on the Postal Service when they reached their limit.