Reporter finds 'graveyard of mail sorting pieces' at USPS location day after sabotage was suspended

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday August 19, 2020 · 11:35 AM PDT

2020/08/19 · 11:35

A mailman wearing a mask and gloves to protect himself and others from COVID-19, known as coronavirus, loads a postal truck with packages at a United States Postal Service (USPS) post office location in Washington, DC, April 16, 2020. - For many Americans, checking the mailbox is a daily ritual, a constant in a quickly changing world that can yield anything from wedding invitations to tax audits to new clothes..But as with many ordinary things as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, the US Postal Service -- already compromised by a mountain of debt -- has a most uncertain future. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Here’s a cautionary tale from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an investigative reporter for WOOD-TV tweets that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service continues.

“Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office,” reporter Heather Walker tweeted Wednesday. “Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy.”

Process started yesterday—the same day that Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy supposedly said he would “suspend” the changes he’s been implementing that have slowed mail delivery to a crawl across the country. DeJoy issued the statement after news of his efforts to hamstring mail delivery drew front-page headlines across the country last week, but he also said nothing about reversing the measures he’s already taken to date.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel responded to Walker’s tweet: “When people asked why we were determined to continue our lawsuit against the Postmaster General despite his "promise" to discontinue efforts to dismantle the USPS-this is why.”

DeJoy said post office hours would not change, mail processing and collection equipment would not be removed, mail processing facilities would not be closed, and overtime hours would continue to be approved “as needed." Of course, need is purely subjective, especially when DeJoy has every motivation to incapacitate the Postal Service. So maybe those overtime hours will be necessary to continue DeJoy’s urgent dismantling of USPS infrastructure.

Here Walker documents a “graveyard of mail sorting pieces” at a USPS location in West Michigan on Wednesday.

.@USPS GR Patterson location has pieces of the mail sorting machines out in the parking lot. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/OuugjhTbfE
— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020

UPDATE: Adding a postscript here—the destruction of these perfectly good USPS sorting machines not isolated to one locale by any means.

NBC News Exclusive: A Waterloo, Iowa postal employee provides these photos of a dismantled mail sorting machine, which now sits in a garage. The employee says it was in good working condition and that its recent removal has caused delivery delays. More tonight on @NBCNightlyNews pic.twitter.com/xG5Ez5T9M7
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 19, 2020

Reporter finds 'graveyard of mail sorting pieces' at USPS location day after sabotage was suspended

Comments are closed on this story.