The Oklahoman

Thousands of chicks arrive dead to farmers amid USPS turmoil

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PORTLAND, Maine — At least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in recent weeks after rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier's operations, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said.

Pingree, a Maine Democrat, is raising the issue of the dead chicks and the losses farms are facing in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Department of Agricultur­e Commission­er Sonny Perdue, The Portland Press Herald reported.

Pauline Henderson, who owns Pine Tree Poultry in New Sharon, Maine, told the newspaper she was shocked last week when all of the 800 chicks sent to her from a hatchery in Pennsylvan­ia were dead.

“Usually they arrive every three weeks like clockwork,” she said. “And out of 100 birds you may have one or two that die in shipping.”

Thousands of birds that moved through the Postal Service's processing center in Shrewsbury, Massachuse­tts, were also dead, impacting several farms in Maine and New Hampshire, Henderson said.

Steve Doherty, a spokesman for the USPS, said the agency “can't locate a claim being filed for this loss.” Some animals, including live chicks, can be mailed safely under proper conditions.

“It's one more of the consequenc­es of this disorganiz­ation, this sort of chaos they've created at the post office and nobody thought through when they were thinking of slowing down the mail,” Pingree said, adding that her office has received dozens of complaints from farmers and others trying to raise a small flock of chickens in the backyard.

Pingree said she isn't sure if Perdue is aware of how the changes in the Postal Service are impacting smaller poultry farmers in the U.S.

“This is a system that's always worked before and it's worked very well until these changes started being made,” Pingree said.

DeJoy, a former supply chain CEO and a Republican donor, took control of the agency in June and has since swiftly engineered cuts and operationa­l changes that are disrupting mail delivery operations. In Maine, two mail-sorting machines were dismantled at the state's postal distributi­on hub.

He announced Tuesday he would halt some changes to mail delivery that critics blamed for widespread delays and warned could disrupt the November election, which is expected to bring a surge of mail-in ballots because of the coronaviru­s pandemic.

 ?? [ROBERT F. BUKATY/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO] ?? Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, speaks a news conference Jan. 27 in Portland, Maine. At least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in the recent weeks since rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier's operations, Pingree said.
[ROBERT F. BUKATY/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO] Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, speaks a news conference Jan. 27 in Portland, Maine. At least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in the recent weeks since rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier's operations, Pingree said.

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