The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-states-postal-service-usps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United States Postal Service</a> announced the purchase of 9,250 <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/electric-vehicles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric vehicles</a> and 14,000 charging stations on Wednesday as the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> continues efforts to phase internal combustion vehicles out of the federal fleet.
Officials unveiled the move as an early stage of a broader electrification <a href="https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2022/1220-usps-intends-to-deploy-over-66000-electric-vehicles-by-2028.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategy</a> that will involve the purchase of 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028. The agency also awarded contracts for 9,250 conventional internal combustion vehicles due to the urgent need for new equipment.
&#8220;We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees. Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives,&#8221; Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/usps-moves-forward-with-awards-to-modernize-and-electrify-the-nations-largest-federal-fleet-301758734.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. &#8220;We have developed a strategy that mitigates both cost and risk of deployment, which enable execution on this initiative to begin now.”
The total investment in the electrification program is slated to reach $9.6 billion, which includes roughly $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act. A previous <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/12/20/biden-%e2%81%a0harris-administration-announces-historic-investment-to-electrify-u-s-postal-service-fleet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the White House said that roughly three-quarters of the agency’s Next Generation Delivery Vehicles will therefore run on batteries instead of internal combustion engines.
The Biden administration has established the goal of procuring only 100% zero-emission light-duty vehicles by 2027 and will extend the same standard to all vehicles in the federal fleet by 2035, according to a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/09/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-proposes-new-standards-for-national-electric-vehicle-charging-network/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> from the White House.
The purchase of electric vehicles by the Postal Service follows a similar <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-harris-unveils-5-billion-for-electric-school-buses-as-nation-sees-largest-learning-decline-in-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiative</a> led by Vice President Kamala Harris to electrify the nation’s school buses. The project will use nearly $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for rebates awarded to school districts that buy the vehicles, while the White House plans to spend a total of $5 billion on the program.
Policy under the Biden administration has indeed favored nascent electric vehicle technology. Individuals who purchase certain electric cars can receive tax credits between $4,000 and $7,500 under the Inflation Reduction Act. “The climate crisis doesn’t care if your state is red or blue. It is an existential threat,” President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a> during his recent State of the Union address. “We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren to confront it. I’m proud of how America is at last stepping up to the challenge.”
The state governments of California, Massachusetts, Washington, and Virginia have meanwhile subscribed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-expected-to-ban-sale-of-new-gas-cars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new rules</a> from the California Air Resources Board requiring 35% of new vehicles to produce zero emissions by 2026, a standard that will progressively rise to 100% by 2035. The Biden administration has likewise <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/13/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-electric-vehicle-charging-action-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set</a> the “ambitious target” of ensuring that electric vehicles constitute 50% of car sales in the United States by 2030.
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Researchers have nevertheless said that the electric grids in California and elsewhere will require significant upgrades before a rapid transition away from internal combustion vehicles can occur. “Today, most people charge their electric cars when they come home in the evening,” according to a <a href="https://www.ece.cornell.edu/spotlights/prepare-grid-now-power-electric-vehicles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Cornell University. “If left unmanaged, the power demanded from many electric vehicles charging simultaneously in the evening will amplify existing peak loads, potentially outstripping the grid’s current capacity to meet demand.”

USPS

Postal Service Buys Nearly 10,000 Electric Vehicles As Biden Pushes For Electrified Federal Fleet

Postal Service Buys Thousands Of Electric Vehicles As Biden Pushes For Electrified Federal Fleet

Biden Administration

electric vehicles

Energy

U.S.

United States Postal Service (USPS)

A veteran postal worker was fatally shot while delivering mail in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/milwaukee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milwaukee</a> on Friday, according to police.
The letter carrier has been identified as Aundre Cross, a 44-year-old father of four. Milwaukee police said they are looking for suspects with the help of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI in a homicide investigation.
At around 5:59 p.m., officers responded to an injured person on the 5000 block of North 65th Street, the Milwaukee Police Department <a href="https://atlasone.app/alerts/7a90d45b-61e8-47ba-8b37-4565b7a2553b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a statement</a>. The victim had sustained a gunshot wound in an incident a little more than an hour earlier and he was pronounced dead at the scene by the Milwaukee Fire Department.
&#8220;The Milwaukee Police Department sends our sincere condolences to the victim&#8217;s family and to the USPS for the loss of their member,&#8221; the department said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/10/us/milwaukee-postal-worker-killed/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which stressed</a> that the &#8220;safety and security of Postal employees is a top priority,&#8221; is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any suspects.
Milwaukee police said the <a href="https://atlasone.app/alerts/6d5f319e-c10c-427a-83a0-275f73119dea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspect vehicle is described</a> as a silver Audi Q5 SUV with tinted windows, and the suspect or suspects should be considered armed and dangerous.
Cross was an on-duty U.S. postal carrier with more than 18 years of service, according to authorities.
&#8220;The shooting death of a Milwaukee postal worker is alarming. My thoughts are with the victim&#8217;s family and colleagues,&#8221; Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfMKE/status/1601427804603953152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in a tweet</a>. &#8220;The postal worker in this homicide was a public servant, which makes this crime even more disturbing.&#8221;
A former co-worker to Cross, who asked to be identified as Tia R., spoke fondly of him in <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/12/10/milwaukee-postal-worker-shot-and-killed-friday-identified-as-aundre-cross/69717526007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview with</a> the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
&#8220;He was a mentor to everybody,&#8221; she told the news outlet. &#8220;He was always ready with a prayer, a joke or a story. He never let anybody leave (any situation) without a smile on their face.&#8221;

USPS Truck

Postal Worker Killed While Delivering Mail in Milwaukee

Crime

Milwaukee

U.S. Postal Service

Wisconsin

House Republican Conference Chairwoman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elise-stefanik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elise Stefanik</a> alleged Friday that Post Office workers stole as much as $20,000 in donations to her campaign.
In a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, lawyers for Stefanik claimed that postal workers ripped open and stole the contents of multiple packages containing donations for Stefanik&#8217;s re-election campaign. The mailings were allegedly stolen on four separate occasions, and three of the incidents happened in the span of a week. Not only were thousands of dollars allegedly stolen, the lawyers allege that the thefts have exposed campaign donors to identity theft and fraud.
&#8220;On four separate occasions between June 2022 and November 2022, packages sent by Elise for Congress containing campaign contributions were ripped open and the contents stolen while in the custody of USPS or its contractors,&#8221; the lawyers alleged in the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E4oEQQGeFo9U0l4Ko3HsZBQMRhVmLPG1/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a>. &#8220;Three of these incidents occurred in a single week.&#8221;
The lawyers allege that the packages were damaged in transit by a USPS employee or contractor. &#8220;These repeated security failures by USPS have not only resulted in the loss of nearly $20,000 in campaign contributions, but also—and more alarmingly—have exposed hundreds of Congresswoman Stefanik’s campaign supporters to potential identity theft or financial fraud.&#8221;
Stefanik&#8217;s campaign team provided photographic evidence of the thefts to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/02/ny-gop-rep-stefanik-postal-service-stole-20k-in-donor-checks-from-mail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post</a>. One image showed a piece of mail torn completely in half, instead of peeled from the corner like the package instructs. A second photo shows two pieces of mail; one is torn open in the middle, and the other in the bottom left corner. Included with the two mails are a check torn in half, and two letters bearing U.S. Postal Inspection Service letterheads.
The lawyers went on to complain that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has not returned calls from Stefanik&#8217;s team. According to the lawyers, the USPIS is investigating, but claimed it would be hard to track down the postal workers who allegedly stole the mailings unless and until one or more of Stefanik&#8217;s donors became the victims of identity theft or financial fraud. Furthermore, the team has not received a report from the USPIS Inspector General, and recently learned that it has not even been finalized or sent.
“It is unacceptable that USPS has repeatedly allowed these targeted thefts to occur and cannot identify who committed the thefts, let alone where or how the thefts occurred,&#8221; the lawyers wrote. They then demanded that DeJoy provide them with a list of concrete actions to investigate the thefts, and specific actions the USPS will take to protect against future mail theft, both for Stefanik and her campaign specifically, and for the American public at large.
&#8220;We hope that you and USPS are taking these systemic issues as seriously as they deserve to be taken. Our clients look forward to receiving the information from USPS specified above and continuing to work with both you and the relevant investigative authorities to ensure the scourge of mail theft is adequately addressed.&#8221;
Incidents of mail theft have spiked in recent months; the large blue mailboxes used at post offices have been especially targeted by identity thieves, so much so that the USPS has <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2022/10/heres-when-you-shouldnt-use-post-office-drop-boxes-according-to-usps.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">instructed</a> the public to avoid depositing mail into those boxes after working hours or on Sundays or holidays when there is no mail collection.

Elise Stefanik

USPS Workers Destroyed Elise Stefanik’s Campaign Mail, Stole $20,000 Worth Of Donations, Lawyers Allege

USPS Workers Destroyed Elise Stefanik's Campaign Mail, Stole $20,000 Worth Of Donations, Lawyers Allege

2022 Election

Fraud

Theft

The United States Postal Service is suspending mail deliveries in one California neighborhood because of repeated assaults on mail carriers.
Santa Monica Postmaster Marjorie Watson sent a letter to residents at the 1300 block of 14th Street in Santa Monica after several mail carriers were assaulted by an unknown individual.
&#8220;This letter is to provide you notice that&#8230; delivery service is hereby suspended to all addresses located on the 1300 block of 14th Street, Santa Monica,&#8221; the letter reads, per a photograph obtained by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/mail-carriers-assaulted-in-santa-monica-causing-delivery-suspension/">New York Post</a>. “This is unfortunate, but please be advised that the Postal Service does not enter into decisions to suspend service lightly. Multiple carriers have been subjected to assaults and threats of assault from an individual who has not been located or apprehended. The safety of our employees and of the mail they deliver to you is our highest concern. Until we can ensure the safety of both, delivery services will remain suspended.&#8221; The letter says that residents can pick up mail from a Post Office facility nearby.
“For the safety of our employees, we have had to temporarily suspend delivery of mail to these customers,” USPS spokeswoman Natashi Garvins told the New York Post on Monday. “This is an unusual, but necessary step to protect our employees.” Garvins further told <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/usps-suspends-services-in-santa-monica-neighborhood-citing-attacks-on-carriers/">KTLA Los Angeles</a> that three different letter carriers were assaulted in three separate instances on the same block, but Santa Monica Police said that only one police report has been filed in the neighborhood.
The lone reported incident took place on January 19, when a resident attacked a mail carrier with a broomstick. The carrier suffered a minor arm injury that did not require medical attention, and declined to press charges against the individual, Santa Monica Police Lieutenant Erika Aklufi said in a statement to KTLA.
Lt. Aklufi further told the New York Post that the suspect is a man who “is known to our officers and also to the mail carrier he attacked,” but said police were unable to locate any other reported assaults in the area.
“If there were other incidents of USPS mail carriers being attacked, we were unable to locate additional reports,” Aklufi said. “Without speaking to the postmaster, it will be difficult to know the extent of this issue. I have never heard of the Postal Service suspending service for all residents in a neighborhood.”
Aklufi also said that the officers who responded to the incident contacted the United States Postal Inspection Service to provide information in case they decided to follow up, but she did not know if the USPIS did so.
Garvins told The Post that the USPIS is investigating all three incidents, but Santa Monica police officials said they were not contacted in connection with those probes. Officials with the USPIS told The Post that they were “unable to comment further at this time” because the investigation is ongoing.
Postal workers in Chicago expressed similar concerns in 2020, threatening to stop delivering mail to some neighborhoods in the city&#8217;s south and west sides after a mail carrier was shot while delivering mail in the Burnside neighborhood, as The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-mail-carriers-threaten-to-stop-delivering-mail-if-city-fails-to-control-violence">Daily Wire</a> reported at the time. Another carrier was shot in the back of the head earlier that year, and another was hit by a paintball gun. The attacks led postal workers to urge crackdowns on gun violence.

USPS Processes Packages At Facility

USPS Suspending Mail Deliveries In California Neighborhood After Repeated Assaults On Mail Carriers

California

Santa Monica

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is arguably one of the worst functioning government agencies, and continues to lose billions of dollars year after year.
Despite the agency&#8217;s flaws, the USPS is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-usps-running-covert-operation-monitoring-americans-social-media-for-inflammatory-posts">reportedly</a> engaging in a &#8220;covert operations program&#8221; to monitor Americans&#8217; social media posts. The goal of the operation is to uncover so-called &#8220;inflammatory&#8221; postings about domestic and international protests. The USPS uncovers the dates, times, and locations of the protests, before handing over their findings to the Department of Homeland Security.
The <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/the-postal-service-is-running-a-running-a-covert-operations-program-that-monitors-americans-social-media-posts-160022919.html?soc_src=social-sh&amp;soc_trk=tw&amp;tsrc=twtr">government bulletin</a> obtained by Yahoo News which uncovered this covert operation also adds that &#8220;No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.&#8221;
&#8220;[Internet Covert Operations Program] analysts will continue to monitor postings and provide direct intelligence reports to specific Areas of Responsibility for any identified posts discussing planned attacks or violent actions,&#8221; the memo continues.
The USPS defended the program, saying it exists to protect agency employees from potential threats.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service,” the USPS said in a general statement, according to Yahoo. “As such, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has federal law enforcement officers, Postal Inspectors, who enforce approximately 200 federal laws to achieve the agency’s mission: protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; enforce the laws that defend the nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous use; and ensure public trust in the mail.”
“The Internet Covert Operations Program is a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which assesses threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information,” the statement continued. “Additionally, the Inspection Service collaborates with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and assess potential threats to the Postal Service, its employees and customers, and its overall mail processing and transportation network. In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded by asking whether there are any government agencies not spying on the American people.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Finally, an answer to the question: &quot;Is there any federal agency that&#39;s not spying on Americans?&quot; <a href="https://t.co/gA6KoguD4N">https://t.co/gA6KoguD4N</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1384927578490867714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We already know that multiple government agencies watch our every move. It&#8217;s a poorly-kept secret we&#8217;ve effectively accepted, especially since 9/11. Americans almost expect agencies like the NSA, CIA, and FBI to read social media posts and keep an eye on potential terrorist threats.
But it&#8217;s reasonable to assume that most Americans would be surprised to learn that the cash-strapped, sluggish USPS has found itself on the list of federal agencies monitoring online chatter. After all, the USPS is tasked with delivering letters or packages, not monitoring the Internet for protests or national security threats.
If anything, the USPS seems like the least likely agency to engage in covert operations. Of course, it&#8217;s understandable that they monitor physical packages which may present a threat, but digging into online posts about rallies and protests doesn&#8217;t exactly fall under their <a href="https://about.usps.com/strategic-planning/cs09/CSPO_09_002.htm#:~:text=The%20Postal%20Service's%20mission%20is,business%20correspondence%20of%20the%20people.">mission statement</a> of &#8220;providing the nation with reliable, affordable, universal mail service.&#8221; It also seems strange that the agency&#8217;s reported spying is motivated by protecting USPS employees, while the content being monitored seems to be entirely political.
Perhaps, instead of focusing on potential national security concerns, the postal service should first work on achieving solvency. According to a General Accountability Officer (GAO) <a href="https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/usps-financial-viability#:~:text=USPS's%20quarterly%20and%20annual%20financial,webcasts%20on%20its%20financial%20results.">report</a>, the agency lost a total of “$87 billion over the last 14 fiscal years — including $9.2 billion in fiscal years 2020.” The agency expects to lose an additional “$9.7 billion in fiscal year 2021,” despite a $2 billion increase in revenue and an uptick in package deliveries due to the pandemic, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/02/20/why-the-us-post-office-is-in-trouble--678539-employees-and-a-92-billion-loss-in-2020/?sh=6fbc9580314e">Forbes</a> reported.
Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter and Editor at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/eb454">@eb454</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Expected Budget Deficit Of US Postal Service Grows To 7 Billion For ’09

The USPS Is Allegedly Engaging In ‘Covert Operations’ To Spy On Americans. Is No Agency Off Limits?

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is running a “covert operations program” monitoring Americans’ social media accounts for “inflammatory” posts.
The program is carried out by the USPS enforcement arm, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and is called the Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP). Analysts with the program monitor the social media posts of people attending rallies and protests, according to <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/the-postal-service-is-running-a-running-a-covert-operations-program-that-monitors-americans-social-media-posts-160022919.html">Yahoo News</a>.
“Analysts with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021,” a March 16 memo distributed by the Department of Homeland Security says. “Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts.”
“Parler users have commented about their intent to use the rallies to engage in violence. Image 3 on the right is a screenshot from Parler indicating two users discussing the event as an opportunity to engage in a ‘fight’ and to ‘do serious damage,’” the memo continues. “No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.”
The program has reportedly targeted right-wing protests such as those against strict lockdown measures.
In a statement to Yahoo News, the USPS acknowledged the existence of the program and said its operation is meant to protect USPS employees from harm. The agency did not elaborate on the program, and none of its details until now have been made public.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service,” the statement said. “As such, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has federal law enforcement officers, Postal Inspectors, who enforce approximately 200 federal laws to achieve the agency’s mission: protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; enforce the laws that defend the nation&#8217;s mail system from illegal or dangerous use; and ensure public trust in the mail.”
“The Internet Covert Operations Program is a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which assesses threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information,” the statement continued. “Additionally, the Inspection Service collaborates with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and assess potential threats to the Postal Service, its employees and customers, and its overall mail processing and transportation network. In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”
The Yahoo News report sparked criticism of the Postal Service and concerns over the government-run monitoring program. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) slammed the USPS on Twitter Wednesday.
“Disturbing! Why do Presidents and my colleagues in congress tolerate these violations of the Constitution?” he asked. “Also, and unfortunately, the USPS has been losing money for many years&#8230; so where do they find money to run this surveillance program?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Disturbing! Why do Presidents and my colleagues in congress tolerate these violations of the Constitution?
Also, and unfortunately, the USPS has been losing money for many years&#8230; so where do they find money to run this surveillance program?<a href="https://t.co/rmcKAsTRNK">https://t.co/rmcKAsTRNK</a>
&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1384943416103030784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Report: USPS Running ‘Covert’ Operation Monitoring Americans’ Social Media For ‘Inflammatory’ Posts

Big Tech

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), on Thursday unveiled a &#8220;postal banking&#8221; bill that would<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-postal-service-is-awesome-we-love-the-postal-service-aoc-makes-the-progressive-case-for-expanding-the-usps"> expand the United States Postal Service</a>. Ocasio-Cortez suggested the agency&#8217;s expansion would fix a host of issues for low-income Americans in both urban and rural areas.
The bill is likely to cause more harm than good.
Why expand an agency that&#8217;s failing financially?
The USPS has long been a thorn in taxpayers&#8217; side as it hemorrhages money year-after-year. According to a General Accountability Office (GAO) <a href="https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/usps-financial-viability#:~:text=USPS's%20quarterly%20and%20annual%20financial,webcasts%20on%20its%20financial%20results.">report</a>, the agency lost a total of “$87 billion over the last 14 fiscal years – including $9.2 billion in fiscal years 2020.” The agency expects to lose an additional “$9.7 billion in fiscal year 2021,” despite a $2 billion increase in revenue and an uptick in package deliveries due to the pandemic, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/02/20/why-the-us-post-office-is-in-trouble--678539-employees-and-a-92-billion-loss-in-2020/?sh=6fbc9580314e">Forbes</a> reported.
According to University of Notre Dame Management Professor James O&#8217;Rourke, the agency&#8217;s financial shortfalls have to do with a Congressional pre-funding requirement.
“The reason the postal service is losing money is because of a congressionally mandated retirement healthcare funding program that no other government agency is required to observe,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke told <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/postal-service-losing-money-because-of-congressional-mandate-not-low-prices-expert-says/">Notre Name News</a> last year. &#8220;This creates a $6.5 billion annual shortfall that could easily be avoided.”
Under this requirement, the USPS is required to pay for its retiree pension &#8220;for retirees up to 75 years in the future,&#8221;<a href="https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2020/02/house-votes-end-controversial-usps-payments-future-retirees-health-care/162912/"> Government Executiv</a>e reported. &#8220;In fiscal 2019, for example, 83% of the $8.8 billion the agency lost came from payments into its retiree pension fund and retiree health benefits fund.&#8221;
The USPS is the only government agency to have this kind of requirement in place, O&#8217;Rourke said.
The USPS can&#8217;t deliver the services it already offers.
As it currently stands, the USPS&#8217; primary function is to transport mail and packages from point A to point B in a timely manner. The <a href="https://facts.usps.com/size-and-scope/">agency</a> can&#8217;t do that despite serving more than 41,000 zip codes, having more than 31,000 retail offices, and roughly a half-million employees.
The agency&#8217;s inability to deliver mail to customers in a designated timeframe is having a drastic impact on Americans across the country. It&#8217;s also causing the USPS&#8217; demise to spiral even further.
&#8220;Consumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills — and the late fees they’ve absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers,&#8221; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/26/usps-delays-bills-medications/">The Washington Post</a> reported. &#8220;Large-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further undercut the agency’s biggest revenue stream.&#8221;
Other Americans rely on the mail for medications, meaning &#8220;delays can be a matter of life and death.&#8221;
A cat rescue in Hawaii needed medication for a rescue named Naya, who developed a disease from &#8220;a kind of fatal, feline coronavirus,&#8221; The New York Times reported. The only way to obtain the medication in time was through a black market drug store.
Rescue volunteer Daniela Stlfi-Tow ordered the medication on three different occasions. The first two packages were mailed through USPS, although they were stuck in two different locations: New York and California. The third medication actually made it to the rescue but it was delivered via FedEx.
“I just cried. I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, you saved her life,’” Stolfi-Tow recounted to the Times. “It’s appalling to me that the government has not stepped in and said, ‘Hey, get it together or stop taking packages until you can deal with whatever the problem is.’”
Virginia resident Brenda Cook shared a similar USPS-related issue with <a href="https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/chesapeake/i-am-frustrated-for-my-community-mail-delivery-problems-persist-in-chesapeake/">WAVY-TV. </a>
Every day Cook receives an email from the USPS&#8217; informed delivery program. An email on March 31 showed her stimulus check in the mail but it was never delivered.
“I had my stimulus check scanned in on the 31st but they have not delivered it,” Cook said on April 9.
“I talked to my friend down my street, her mom has not received her insulin and her mom is not able to go out to a doctor. Everything comes there,” Cook said. “This can be dangerous.”
Chicago resident Lorraine Sardin had a story similar to Cook&#8217;s.
Sardin went two weeks without receiving mail while she was waiting for her social security cards and stimulus check.
&#8220;That&#8217;s how I pay my carrying charges, my lights, gas, you know. Things like that. And that keeps me going. And for me not to get it is drastic for me,&#8221; Sardin told <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/usps-chicago-mail-lost-no-delivery/10331118/">ABC 7.</a>
Because more Americans turned to online ordering through the pandemic, there are likely thousands more stories like these.
There&#8217;s not a significant need for &#8220;banking&#8221; at the post office.
During Thursday&#8217;s press conference, Ocasio-Cortez stated &#8220;millions&#8221; of Americans were likely to use &#8220;postal banking&#8221; because of fees associated with check cashing businesses.
“I can’t tell you how many families I see go in and they can’t afford to be banked. Think about that, how many millions of people in this country that either can’t afford to be banked or struggle to be banked,” she said. “And so they’ll show up to a check cashing place. Imagine cashing your stimulus check for $1,400 and having 10% to 20% of that check taken away from you. Those are diapers. That’s baby formula. And that’s food that is taken out of the hands of the families just to cash a check.”
Despite that, a <a href="https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/index.html">2019 study</a> from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), found that &#8220;Nearly 95 percent of U.S. households (approximately 124 million households) were banked (i.e., had a bank or credit union account). This is the highest number and percentage of households with bank accounts since the survey was first conducted in 2009.&#8221;
Those who do not have banks make up 5.4% of the country, the FDIC study concluded, which translates to 7.1 million households.
But the reason people don&#8217;t have banks, especially in the Bronx, isn&#8217;t because they can&#8217;t find banks. It&#8217;s because of the instant need for cash.
&#8220;If they have deposited that check in the bank, it would take three or four days to clear,&#8221; Lisa Servon, a University of Pennsylvania professor studying urban poverty, told<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/surprising-logic-behind-use-check-cashers-payday-loans"> PBS</a> in 2017. &#8220;When they come here, they can use that cash right away. And they won&#8217;t be subject to the kind of mistiming at a bank that could lead to an overdraft fee of $35.&#8221;
The bottom line
The United States Postal Service needs to address its glaring issues – like its solvency and delivery times – before a conversation about expanding services takes place. The American people deserve to address this issue if and when the USPS proves they can be profitable and deliver mail in a timely fashion. Assuming that day finally comes, we can then talk about the lack of need for the very services Ocasio-Cortez and her colleagues are calling for.
Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter and Editor at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/eb454">@eb454</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Meet the Press – Season 71

Data Debunks Ocasio-Cortez’s Claim That Americans Need ‘Postal Banking’

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), announced a &#8220;postal banking&#8221; bill that would expand the United States Postal Service on Thursday. According to Ocasio-Cortez, expanding the services the USPS provides would help urban and rural Americans alike.
&#8220;This issue is particularly meaningful to me; when just three or four years ago I was waitressing in downtown Manhattan and I worked for cash tips and at the end of my shift I would have, you know, $100 in tips or so or after a couple days there would be a couple hundred dollars in cash in my bag and I&#8217;d hop on the six train and then I&#8217;d go home to my community in the Bronx,&#8221; she explained during a press conference.
Ocasio-Cortez said she lived near a check cashing business while she was a waitress. She now lives around the corner from another one.
&#8220;I can&#8217;t tell you how many families I see go in and they can&#8217;t afford to be banked. Think about that, how many millions of people in this country that either can&#8217;t afford to be banked or struggle to be banked,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And so they&#8217;ll show up to a check cashing place. Imagine cashing your stimulus check for $1,400 and having 10% to 20% of that check taken away from you. Those are diapers. That&#8217;s baby formula. And that&#8217;s food that is taken out of the hands of the families just to cash a check.&#8221;
According to the congresswoman, Americans utilize check cashing services because &#8220;banks won&#8217;t bank them because it&#8217;s not profitable enough to bank certain communities to a level that they need.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez said the bill is &#8220;simple&#8221; and expands the United States Postal Services&#8217; current offerings.
&#8220;When you go to [the post office] to mail what you need to mail, to buy stamps, to take a photo or file for your passport, that you&#8217;re just able to do a few more things, to wire funds if you need to wire funds, to cash a check. &#8221; she explained. &#8220;These are very basic things.&#8221;
The congresswoman said Americans would have the ability to pull funds from an ATM &#8220;without having a bunch of money taken out when you&#8217;re just going to take out a couple of dollars.&#8221;
In New York City, where Bodegas are popular, people have the option of withdrawing bills in $5 increments, the congresswoman explained. The downside, however, is the enormous fees associated with the withdrawal.
&#8220;Imagine you go to an ATM to take out a $5 increment and they charge you a $3 fee,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez said, calling it &#8220;unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t have to be. And not only that, but the postal service is awesome!&#8221; she said. &#8220;We love the postal service! Americans love the postal service. They want to protect the postal service. They want to expand the postal service and this bill does just that, raising over $1 billion in revenue for our postal services so that everyone from our babies to our seniors can continue to enjoy the services they provide.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BANKING: Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> pushes for pilot program for post offices to provide financial services in under-banked communities: &quot;The Postal Service is awesome. Americans love the Postal Service.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/3ikmDy0X72">pic.twitter.com/3ikmDy0X72</a>
&mdash; Forbes (@Forbes) <a href="https://twitter.com/Forbes/status/1382766925458001920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Gillibrand said expanding the agency&#8217;s services to include banking services &#8220;could generate $1.1 billion in additional revenue for USPS annually after five years,&#8221; a <a href="https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/senators-gillibrand-and-sanders-representatives-ocasio-cortez-pascrell-and-kaptur-call-on-congress-to-implement-postal-banking-pilot-programs-">letter</a> to the Senate Financial Services Subcommittee chairman and ranking member indicate.
The Senate version of the bill that Gillibrand is co-sponsoring would allocate $6 million &#8220;for a pilot program to test whether a non-profit bank located in a post office would benefit customers in underserved communities,&#8221; <a href="https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/senator-kirsten-gillibrand-calls-for-postal-banking-pilot-program/71-fa13ef75-f246-4629-ab37-1b34505e379f">WGRZ-TV</a> reported.
The USPS continues to hemorrhage money on an annual basis. According to a General Accountability Officer (GAO) <a href="https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/usps-financial-viability#:~:text=USPS's%20quarterly%20and%20annual%20financial,webcasts%20on%20its%20financial%20results.">report</a>, the agency lost a total of &#8220;$87 billion over the last 14 fiscal years – including $9.2 billion in fiscal years 2020.&#8221; The agency expects to lose an additional &#8220;$9.7 billion in fiscal year 2021,&#8221; despite a $2 billion increase in revenue and an uptick in package deliveries due to the pandemic, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/02/20/why-the-us-post-office-is-in-trouble--678539-employees-and-a-92-billion-loss-in-2020/?sh=6fbc9580314e">Forbes</a> reported.

President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress

‘The Postal Service Is Awesome! We Love The Postal Service!’: AOC Makes The Progressive Case For Expanding The USPS

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

In an attempt to allegedly become more competitive, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy released a 58-page, 10-year plan to revamp the U.S. Postal Service that would include higher prices, slower deliveries, and cuts to post office hours across the country.
CNN <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/03/23/politics/louis-dejoy-postal-service-changes-ten-year-plan/index.html">reported</a> that DeJoy, appointed by former President Donald Trump, announced the new plan, called “Delivering for America,” on Tuesday. The plan also calls for a new, “energy-friendly fleet of delivery vehicles.” More from CNN:
<blockquote>It includes investments in &#8220;advanced package processing equipment,&#8221; upgrades to post offices and uniforms, new technology such as mobile devices for letter carriers, and new employee training.
It also calls for dialing down delivery time expectations, which it notes the system has been unable to meet &#8220;over the past eight years.&#8221;
It proposed changing the standard for first class letters and flats to a five-day standard from a three-day standard. The Postal Service said that under the plan, it expects to deliver about 70% of first class mail within three days.</blockquote>
Another proposal in the plan is a new feature called USPS Connect, which would include upgrades to make the Post Office’s delivery notification website interactive.
&#8220;The need to ensure reliable service, while improving operational efficiency and precision, requires that these standards be updated,&#8221; the plan says, according to CNN.
DeJoy claimed in a press conference that the plan &#8220;takes a holistic view of the organization and is meant to elevate our business, competitiveness, and our ability to meet the needs of the nation.&#8221;
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-postal-service-overhaul-calls-for-higher-prices-slower-mail-and-more-packages-11616509800?mod=hp_lead_pos11">reported</a> that higher prices would be included in the plan as part of an effort to keep the USPS from more than $100 billion in projected losses over the next decade. The proposal includes a plan for higher prices for stamps and packages in the future, but it doesn’t say how much those increases will be or when they will be implemented, the Journal reported.
The Postal Regulatory Commission in November granted the agency more flexibility to increase prices on products such as first-class mail. The plan doesn’t spell out specific increases,” the outlet noted. “The Postal Service decided last year to keep the price of a ‘Forever’ stamp at 55 cents for 2021, but other first-class mail rates went up slightly. Domestic postcards now cost 36 cents instead of 35 cents and metered letters cost 51 cents instead of 50 cents.”
“Last year the Postal Service <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-postal-service-plans-peak-surcharges-for-domestic-parcels-11597429510?mod=article_inline">imposed surcharges on packages </a>during the holiday season, much like United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. have typically done,” the outlet added.
While the plan includes cuts to post office hours, it doesn’t include any additional USPS location closures, CNN reported. The American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein applauded the plan, which would open “46 new annexes to handle the ever-increasing number of packages the USPS processes.” Dimondstein also praised the plan for recognizing “that the United State Postal Service&#8217;s strength is in the people who provide the service.&#8221;

U.S. Postal Service’s New Plan To Become Competitive: Longer Delivery Times, Shorter Office Hours, And Higher Prices

Would you send $500 in cash through the mail?
If not, maybe you won&#8217;t want to send your ballot, either. But millions of Americans have already voted by mail in the 2020 presidential election: 48,370,696 to be exact, <a href="https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html">according</a> to Elect Project at the time of publishing.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still running rampant, many Americans have decided that posting their ballots through the United States Postal Service (USPS) is the safest way to go.
But just how safe is your ballot in the mail?
Fox News decided to test out the USPS.
&#8220;As part of a special investigation, senior correspondent Eric Shawn, the I-Unit and others sent 500 envelopes from more than 50 locations throughout the country to test how quickly they traveled between addresses, and to a single destination in New York,&#8221; Fox <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/usps-put-to-the-test-by-fox-news-ahead-of-2020-election">reported</a>. &#8220;A little more than two percent failed to reach their destinations, including nine envelopes that have not been delivered more than a month later.&#8221;
Fox posted a total of 500 identical envelopes, 100 in each of the New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Dallas metropolitan areas. Eleven never reached their addressed destinations — two were returned to sender and the other nine yet to arrive.
While that&#8217;s just 11 out of 500 — or 2.2% — that percentage extrapolated to the current number of mail-in ballots — 48,370,696 — would be a whopping 1,064,155 votes.
Fox&#8217;s test included some other interesting information, including how long the envelopes took to arrive.
<blockquote>In New York, envelopes were mailed from locations within almost 70 miles of the destination. Delivery times there ranged from two to five days, and in many cases it was the envelopes traveling the shortest distances that took the longest amount of time to travel.
Some of the mail sent from one New York borough to another took just as long or longer to arrive than the envelopes sent to New York from Los Angeles. The envelopes sent to New York from California ironically traveled the greatest cross-country distance of all of the test ballots, but arrived in the least amount of time of any in that same group.</blockquote>
Fox also talked to a USPS spokesman, who said that the postal service “has allocated additional resources, including, but not limited to, expanded processing procedures, extra transportation, extra delivery and collection trips, and overtime, to ensure that Election Mail reaches its intended destination in a timely manner.”
The spokesperson also said &#8220;the use of extraordinary measures beyond the normal course of operations is authorized and expected to be executed by local management between Oct. 26 and Nov. 24 to accelerate the delivery of ballots, when the Postal Service is able to identify the mailpiece as a ballot.&#8221;
Those &#8220;extraordinary measures&#8221; include expedited handling, extra deliveries and special pickups, &#8220;which have been used in past elections, to connect blank ballots entered by election officials to voters, or completed ballots returned by voters entered close to or on Election Day to their intended destination,&#8221; Fox wrote.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-pivot-to-in-person-voting-fear-mail-in-could-lead-to-problems">Democrats Pivot To In-Person Voting, Fear Mail-In Could Lead To Problems</a>

Human finger holding sticker above voting mail

Postal Service Put To Test By Fox News Ahead Of 2020 Election. It Doesn’t Go Well.

2020 Election

Fox News

A Kentucky postal worker who allegedly tossed dozens of absentee ballots may face federal charges after being terminated from his position.
A United States Postal Service worker allegedly threw away over 100 absentee ballots meant for the Jeffersontown area of Jefferson County. Federal agents from the Postal Service Office of Inspector General found the ballots on Thursday morning after receiving a tip, according to the <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/16/usps-employee-fired-tossing-louisville-kentucky-ballots/3677655001/">Courier-Journal</a>.
“The case has been accepted for federal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Special Agent Scott Balfour wrote in a statement Friday. “They will determine what charges are appropriate after a review of all the facts in the case.”
“Incidents of this nature are exceedingly rare,” Balfour said. The “vast majority of the Postal Service’s 630,000 employees are hard-working, trustworthy individuals who work around the clock to deliver the nation’s mail.”
The worker involved “is no longer employed by the USPS,” Balfour confirmed, according to <a href="https://www.wkyt.com/2020/10/17/usps-worker-responsible-for-discarded-absentee-ballots-no-longer-employed-could-face-federal-charges/">WKYT</a>. “I cannot provide any further details surrounding their employment due to federal privacy concerns.”
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky would not say whether or not the case would be taken up for prosecution. “We can’t confirm or deny an investigation,” spokesman Nick Storm said.
The recovered ballots were sent out by the Jefferson County Clerk&#8217;s Office on Oct. 3. Some of the Jefferson County residents who requested the ballots had called the office to report that they never received them.
The episode comes as pundits and lawmakers debate the merits of expanded mail-in voting amid the pandemic. Generally, Democratic lawmakers have pushed to expand absentee and mail-in voting, even as far as universal mail-in voting where an unsolicited ballot is sent to every American. Republicans have pushed back against mail-in voting, opting instead to keep the current absentee voting standards, or reduce standards for qualifying for absentee ballots.
The Trump administration has argued strongly against mail-in voting. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ag-barr-on-mail-in-voting-people-pushing-it-are-grossly-irresponsible-media-used-to-oppose-it">Attorney General Bill Barr</a> has been one of the most vocal critics of Democratic proposals to introduce expanded or universal mail-in voting.
“I’m very worried about it. You know, as I said at the beginning, the two ways we have resolving disputes in our society and keeping the peace are discussion and voting,” Barr said during an interview in August. “And right now, we’re a very divided country politically. Our elections have been very close. They can turn on one state. They turn on just a few districts.”
“And people have to have confidence in the outcome or we’re going to have real problems in this country,” Barr added. “And I think the people who want to experiment with different ways of voting right now, which are predictably—you know, can predictably create problems of integrity, are playing with fire and are grossly irresponsible.”
Barr defended absentee voting where people must provide some form of identification to request a ballot.
“There’s no problem with that, especially for states that have been doing that for awhile,” Barr said.

Official Election Mail

Kentucky Postal Worker Terminated, May Face Federal Charges After Allegedly Tossing Dozens Of Ballots

Kentucky

Mail-In Voting

The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier in New Jersey has been arrested for allegedly dumping mail, including 99 general election ballots.
&#8220;Nicholas Beauchene, 26, of Kearny, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of delay, secretion, or detention of mail and one count of obstruction of mail,&#8221; the DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/postal-employee-arrested-dumping-mail-including-election-ballots-sent-west-orange">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;Approximately 1,875 pieces of mail – including 627 pieces of first class, 873 pieces of standard class, two pieces of certified mail, 99 general election ballots destined for residents in West Orange, and 276 campaign flyers from local candidates for West Orange Town Council and Board of Education – were recovered from dumpsters in North Arlington and West Orange on Oct. 2, 2020, and Oct. 5, 2020.&#8221;
The statement noted that the mail had been scheduled to be delivered on September 28, October 1, and October 2 to Orange and West Orange residents.
&#8220;The recovered mail was placed back into the mail stream for delivery to its intended recipients. Copies of the recovered mail were made and retained as evidence,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the USPS-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi, Northeast Area Field Office, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest.&#8221;
Beauchene is scheduled to appear in federal court this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor. The statement noted that, if convicted, Beauchene could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the delay of mail charge and six months and a $5,000 fine for the obstruction of mail charges.
In May, the DOJ charged a mail carrier with attempted election fraud in Pendleton County, West Virginia, for allegedly altering eight primary ballot request forms.
The DOJ <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/pendleton-county-mail-carrier-charged-attempted-election-fraud">said</a> in a statement:
<blockquote>Thomas Cooper, a mail carrier in Pendleton County, was charged today in a criminal complaint with attempted election fraud, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced.
Cooper, age 47, of Dry Fork, West Virginia, is charged with “Attempt to Defraud the Residents of West Virginia of a Fair Election.” According to the affidavit filed with the complaint, Cooper held a U.S. Postal Service contract to deliver mail in Pendleton County. In April 2020, the Clerk of Pendleton County received “2020 Primary Election COVID-19 Mail-In Absentee Request&#8221; forms from eight voters on which the voter&#8217;s party-ballot request appeared to have been altered.
The clerk reported the finding to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, which began an investigation. The investigation found five ballot requests that had been altered from “Democrat” to “Republican.” On three other requests, the party wasn’t changed, but the request had been altered.
Cooper was responsible for the mail delivery of the three towns from which the tampered requests were mailed: Onego, Riverton, and Franklin, West Virginia. According to the affidavit, Cooper admitted to altering some of the requests, saying it was a joke.</blockquote>
Two months later, in July, Cooper <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/politics/west-Virginia-election-fraud.html">pleaded</a> guilty to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail.

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