<story><title>Amazon gets priority while mail gets delayed, say US letter carriers</title><url>https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/21/first-class-and-priority-mail-delayed-in-favor-of-amazon-parcels-according-to-portland-letter-carriers/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>caseysoftware</author><text>We&amp;#x27;re 4 months into the pandemic and their workload is only going to get worse if we have nationwide mail in ballots. If they&amp;#x27;re going to do something, they should get on it instead of letting their members suffer.</text></item><item><author>bsanr2</author><text>This is at the direction of a Trump appointee. Career USPS workers are not happy about it and their union is exploring options, last I heard.&lt;p&gt;Unions: They&amp;#x27;re Actually A Good Thing.</text></item><item><author>Spooky23</author><text>You could do all of that, or you could take note that USPS halted overtime during one of the busiest periods of business in recent history.&lt;p&gt;UPS is renting UHauls in my area to replenish delivery trucks in the field. Drivers are working OT as late as 9PM.&lt;p&gt;USPS isn’t backfilling positions or using OT hours!</text></item><item><author>nomercy400</author><text>The real issue here is the fact that the USPS is overloaded and requires extra government attention. If you don&amp;#x27;t properly fund and support you public postal service, you don&amp;#x27;t get on-time mail deliveries. Maybe that is the issue.&lt;p&gt;This has little to do with Amazon. Amazon is paying the USPS according to their contract. If the contract from 2013 is unsatisfactory, then it should be renegotiated by USPS. I wouldn&amp;#x27;t be surprised if it is a 10-year deal, and has hefty fines for late deliveries.&lt;p&gt;A journalist should be able to request the contract and see why USPS is now overloaded: Is it because USPS is not receiving enough funding from the government, or because the contract with Amazon is really bad for USPS. It sounds like the fact that Amazon is shipping so many parcels is a symptom, not the (systemic) cause of why parcels aren&amp;#x27;t shipped on time.
If the USPS is to blame, then who made this deal and what were their reasons? Was it a national deal? Why is it a problem now? Why wasn&amp;#x27;t this anticipated? And how can it be avoided in the future?&lt;p&gt;Aren&amp;#x27;t contracts of the government with private parties publically accessible? I mean, you, the taxpayer, pay for the contract so you should have access to it, as well be able to check on the government&amp;#x27;s workings. At least, that&amp;#x27;s how we do things in europe.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cameldrv</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t think that mail in ballots will significantly affect the USPS.  They do about half a billion mail items per day.  Ballots for everyone who is registered to vote is mabye 200 million.  Ballots are also small.  Packages take much more time to handle by the mail carrier.</text></comment>
<story><title>Amazon gets priority while mail gets delayed, say US letter carriers</title><url>https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/21/first-class-and-priority-mail-delayed-in-favor-of-amazon-parcels-according-to-portland-letter-carriers/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>caseysoftware</author><text>We&amp;#x27;re 4 months into the pandemic and their workload is only going to get worse if we have nationwide mail in ballots. If they&amp;#x27;re going to do something, they should get on it instead of letting their members suffer.</text></item><item><author>bsanr2</author><text>This is at the direction of a Trump appointee. Career USPS workers are not happy about it and their union is exploring options, last I heard.&lt;p&gt;Unions: They&amp;#x27;re Actually A Good Thing.</text></item><item><author>Spooky23</author><text>You could do all of that, or you could take note that USPS halted overtime during one of the busiest periods of business in recent history.&lt;p&gt;UPS is renting UHauls in my area to replenish delivery trucks in the field. Drivers are working OT as late as 9PM.&lt;p&gt;USPS isn’t backfilling positions or using OT hours!</text></item><item><author>nomercy400</author><text>The real issue here is the fact that the USPS is overloaded and requires extra government attention. If you don&amp;#x27;t properly fund and support you public postal service, you don&amp;#x27;t get on-time mail deliveries. Maybe that is the issue.&lt;p&gt;This has little to do with Amazon. Amazon is paying the USPS according to their contract. If the contract from 2013 is unsatisfactory, then it should be renegotiated by USPS. I wouldn&amp;#x27;t be surprised if it is a 10-year deal, and has hefty fines for late deliveries.&lt;p&gt;A journalist should be able to request the contract and see why USPS is now overloaded: Is it because USPS is not receiving enough funding from the government, or because the contract with Amazon is really bad for USPS. It sounds like the fact that Amazon is shipping so many parcels is a symptom, not the (systemic) cause of why parcels aren&amp;#x27;t shipped on time.
If the USPS is to blame, then who made this deal and what were their reasons? Was it a national deal? Why is it a problem now? Why wasn&amp;#x27;t this anticipated? And how can it be avoided in the future?&lt;p&gt;Aren&amp;#x27;t contracts of the government with private parties publically accessible? I mean, you, the taxpayer, pay for the contract so you should have access to it, as well be able to check on the government&amp;#x27;s workings. At least, that&amp;#x27;s how we do things in europe.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jeffbee</author><text>You&amp;#x27;d have to be pretty crazy to actually mail your mail-in ballot. What is the only way to expose every election in the country to the meddling of the federal executive branch? Interpose the USPS between the voter and local election officials! Whether by incompetence or malice they&amp;#x27;ll find a way to fuck it up. I intend to carry my own ballot to the county election office.</text></comment>