link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/10/01/your-usps-mail-might-be-slower-starting-today---heres-what-to-know/?sh=4b82d91d2d1b

swipe:

Your USPS Mail Might Be Slower Starting Today — Here’s What To Know

Alison Durkee Forbes Staff
Business


TOPLINE The U.S. Postal Service’s controversial new service changes went into effect Friday, potentially slowing down as much as 30% of first class mail—here’s how the changes might affect your mail delivery:

KEY FACTS
The service changes, part of USPS’s broader new 10-year strategic plan, will extend the service standard for some first class mail and periodicals from three days to five days.

The change will specifically impact mail that’s traveling further distances, as USPS stops moving as many items by airplane and transports more mail by truck.

According to an analysis of the plan from the Washington Post, mail that travels up to 140 miles should still arrive within two days and mail that travels up to 930 miles should arrive within three, but mail that goes further than that would take four or five days under the new plan.

First-class packages will also be affected, with the Post reporting packages may take more than three days to arrive if the drive to transport them is more than 32 hours.

The Post projected among the biggest regions that will be “disproportionately” affected by the changes are states west of the Rocky Mountains, Florida, southern Texas and New England.

The new 10-year plan is also expected to result in other changes that mail consumers will notice, like shorter hours at post offices and higher prices for postage.

TANGENT
In addition to the service changes going into effect Friday, USPS will also temporarily raise its prices for the holiday season on Sunday, which will last through December 26. The price hikes will range between 25 cents for lighter packages to as much as $5 for heavier ones. The agency has also already separately raised the price of stamps by three cents, which took effect in late August, and has said that from now on it’ll raise its prices twice a year, in January and July.

BIG NUMBER
61%. That’s the percentage of first class mail USPS projects will not be impacted by the new changes, according to spokesperson Kim Frum, along with 93% of periodicals.

CHIEF CRITICS
The new USPS changes have drawn widespread criticism, including from 21 state attorneys general, Democrats in Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission that oversees the agency. “The Commission finds that the relies upon assumptions that may not be well founded and it may be unable to achieve successful implementation where reliability and efficiency are required,” the PRC wrote in its opinion about the USPS plan—which the agency was not required to follow—noting the changes to service standards will not result in “much improvement, if any, to the Postal Service’s current financial condition.”

KEY BACKGROUND
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy unveiled the agency’s 10-year strategic plan in March, arguing the wide-reaching changes were necessary to combat the agency’s financial issues despite their potential impact on mail delivery. “Does it make a difference if it's an extra day to get a letter?” DeJoy said during a congressional hearing in February when asked about his then-rumored plan. The changes to USPS’ service standards come after DeJoy already came under scrutiny last year for imposing changes at the agency that resulted in nationwide mail delays, spurring widespread outrage and multiple legal challenges that ultimately got the changes reversed. DeJoy, a longtime GOP donor and Trump ally who was appointed to his position in summer 2020 by USPS’ board of governors, has long been a target of criticism for his leadership at the Postal Service as a result. Though Democrats have pushed for his ouster, however, only the board has the power to fire the postmaster general—which so far the board does not appear willing to do.

Once two of the five Trumper Board of Governors term out.

you need a majority on the usps board of governors to fire dejoy. dems technically have a majority...but one of those dems was a pro-dejoy 'dem' appointed by trump (bernie held back obama usps appointees and gutted the board of governors for trump to completely remake it with very little resistance).

biden can fire the usps governors who refuse to fire dejoy for 'cause'. cause is a pretty high bar to clear legally. but biden can appoint new governors (and fire dejoy) while things play out in court and get settled way down the line. by that time...the real terms of the replaced govs will have expired anyway. and assuming the supreme court ultimately rules against biden...he can just install other appointees legally then through regular order.

trump did something similar to this with at least 2 of his appointees...for the cfpb and dhs. by the time the courts ruled that the appointment/removals were illegal/unconstitutional...nobody even cared...and trump didnt even take steps to reverse the action (im not even sure a specific remedy was mandated by courts). and we eventually had a new election/president anyway.

biden has already shown a willingness to carry out something he knew would get struck down by the courts but would be beneficial in the meantime before the ruling (eviction moratorium). he could do the same here too. republicans have been gaming the system this way on everything from state legislative power grabs and usurpation of governor powers, gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc. they pass gerrymandered maps all the time. and by the time courts strike them down and order a rewrite of the maps...its like a decade later when a new round of redistricting is set to take place. then they just do the same thing again.

this is just another example of republicans choosing a goal and using whatever power they have to achieve it regardless of the legal constraints...and dems playing by rules and norms.

people may be like whats the point now since biden can get a legit majority in dec anyway. but before that...dejoy has instituted a 10 yr plan to fuck up the usps (which will become increasingly hard to reverse) and has given delivery contracts to a private company he has ties to (suspiciously in areas like atlanta where mail delivery is important to election administration and voter turnout). so a lot of long term damage has already been done even in the period of time before action is taken while biden has been in office.

like the power players got together and wondered how far could they push people before we break.

i don't think it's a conspiracy. i think that's the goal.

the point is to fuck up the government run usps. and hand it over more and more to private companies. and of course circumvent government mandated price controls on shipping prices so customers can be gouged for an even bigger profit.

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"