MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There were new calls Tuesday to save the United State Postal Service, as the Mid-South and areas across the country report delays in delivery ahead of a presidential election where voter turnout by mail is expected to be at a record high.
The Postmaster General said Tuesday he’s pressing pause on changes to the USPS until after the election to avoid any appearance of impact to the election mail.
But multiple postal union leaders and a U.S. Congressman are alarmed by the changes already in place.
“Right now the Post Office is under attack,” Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) said. “It connects us with lifesaving drugs, with census forms, with mail-in ballots, with tax forms and tax refunds and essentials of life.”
Local union leaders say changes made in Washington within the last 30 days are tying postal workers’ hands. They say there’s mail sitting at some facilities since last month.
Cohen said the delays go back to President Trump.
The president has been openly critical of voting by mail, except in Florida, where records show he requested a mail-in ballot for the state’s primaries this year.
“He jeopardizes the most popular institution in our nation, people working on the front lines, not getting hazardous pay but in hazardous conditions and the great majority of whom are African Americans,” Cohen said.
Several representatives of postal workers unions said they’ve been robbed of resources since Louis DeJoy became Postmaster General of the USPS in June.
“At this time our hands are being tied behind our back,” said John Macon, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 96. “We just want to do our job. Our job to process the mail and to deliver the mail.”
Union leaders said several machines were removed from Memphis facilities in the last 30 days. They weren’t told why.
They said five out of 24 total sorting machines were taken. Each machine can process 38,000 pieces per hour, meaning a total reduction of up to 190,000 pieces of mail per hour, resulting in delivery delay times.
“The mail ebbs and flows based on the holiday, based on the time of the month so you always need these machines online to process the mail,” said Macon.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, along with announcing suspending changes to the USPS until after the election, DeJoy said he wants to reassure Americans retail hours at the post office won’t change, processing equipment and blue boxes will remain where they are, no processing facilities will be closed and overtime will be approved for employees as needed.
Cohen says he will be back to Washington on Saturday morning to vote for the “Delivering to America” Act, a bill to ensure the postal service’s systems go back to where they were at the beginning of the year.
“We connect the dots in America through this beloved service,” said Melvin Richardson, president of the local American Postal Workers Union. “This is a national treasure and we should fight to keep it.”
