Why Joe Biden didn’t force DeJoy out as head of the Postal Service is a mystery. However the failure to do so and appoint someone worthy has consequences, and they are coming. Waste Management CEO David Steiner was confirmed Friday by USPS board members as the new Postmaster General. He also happens to be a Board Member of FedEx! It’s no secret Trump and others want to privatize postal delivery. I’d say putting a FexEx honcho in charge of the USPS will move that forward in a ‘bigly’ way.
Don’t kid yourself. While the USPS Board of Governors picked Steiner this was because Trump made it clear they’d better do so. Newsweek tells us this comes as part of Trump’s plans to ‘overhaul’ the Postal Service. Not that conservatives haven’t wanted to privatize the whole thing for decades. Then in 2005 Susan Collins of all people was the key mover that led to all the financial problems the USPS has been having. It was she who sponsored the bill that required them to, unlike any other federal agency to pre-pay 50 years worth of health and retirement benefits. Pairing up with Tom Davis over in the house they snuck it through in a lame duck session. It’s an ugly tale you should read about if you don’t know the story.
The point is coughing up all that extra money each year starting twenty years ago means the USPS hasn’t been profitable since. It’s been a ticking time-bomb that needed the right person to prime the charge and pop the fuse on the ‘explosion’ that would damage it so badly there would be “no choice” but to create something new. In “safe, competent” private sector hands because as conservatives have been saying all my life government, even quasi-government can’t do anything right.
The linked Newsweek article reminds us FedEx and the Postal Service have been competitors. Also that after twenty years FedEx lost a contract with the USPS and was replaced by UPS. At issue is that some privatization has already taken place. But conservatives want more. As in no more USPS. Still, the idea isn’t something that goes over well with the public. So, some proverbial secret ingredient was needed to the explosive part of that ticking time bomb I mentioned. I say conservatives have identified it – Trump’s greed and corruption!
Keep in mind they deliver over 470 million pieces of mail, packages and other items each day. To 169 million addresses in the U.S. alone. (with very little lost or damages in the process I should add) That’s by far more than any other country in the world, but the number of items the USPS delivers each day is staggering. I don’t know about you, but I can easily imagine Trump (after he’s PAINTED HIS FACE ORANGE) thinks about that each day these days. And thinks ‘How can I get some of that action?’ He’s been putting the pieces into place, including his crypto-currency scheme in addition to other scams that allow money to be routed to him. You think he cares for one second about the Emoluments Clauses in the Constitution? He proved he doesn’t in his first term and now he’s emboldened.
They are working out the details of how, but according to Newsweek folding the Postal Service into another agency seems to be where we’re headed.
The president has said he was considering bringing the postal service under the control of the Commerce Department.
“We’re thinking about doing that and it’ll be a form of a merger, but it will remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better than it has been over the years,” Trump said during a swearing-in ceremony for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in February. “It’s been just a tremendous loser for this country.”
I for one don’t get the warm & fuzzies thinking about Lutnick who is as stupid and incompetent as they come having the agency in his department. However he’ll do whatever Trump tells him and including spouting whatever b.s. Trump tells him to spout. Like telling the public (and Congress, with the GOP part winking and nodding) they aren’t really ‘privatizing’ mail delivery. When of course things will be set up to do just that. Or that it will save people money because costs will come down. It already costs more to send something via FedEx or UPS. Does anyone believe that their differently painted trucks and drivers wearing different shirts. and them running the big sorting and distribution centers with their managers will make things cheaper? I sure as hell don’t.
So costs WILL go up. As will public outrage at Trump and GOP Congress Critters but there’s something that will make dealing with all that worth it. MONEY. Think of all the contracts that will have to be entered into from the big ones down to regional and local levels. And remember Trump’s ability to grift and use the trappings of his office and the federal government to line his pockets. Add in the new crypto currency thing and Trump WILL get his cut. And, those in Congress who let him get away with it won’t face his wrath. Not that he’ll spread any of the new wealth to them. This is after all Trump. But he will make it clear a LOT of fundraising and other shenanigans GOP Congress Critters engage in gets ‘overlooked.’Â The DOJ does after all belong to him now.
Well, it’s coming. If you’ve thought over the past couple of decades mail has increased too much in price, and delivery has slipped a bit (because everyone knows the USPS has been losing billions a year) you ain’t seen nothing yet.
***Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula***
Sorry, I lost faith in the USPS when a custom built computer for a 9 year old’s birthday was vandalized before it could be delivered. I had it insured and they have refused to compensate me for the damages or the postal charges I paid. And the only place it was in
he post office in Fresno, CA. The a**hole damaged it completely. Including and not limited to the processor. I am so effing pissed at them right now! I will NEVER trust them again!