BURLINGTON, Aug. 26 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter today to Postmaster General Megan Brennan urging the Postal Service to reinstate overnight mail delivery standards in light of a recent report finding significant delays in the delivery of mail.
The report from the United States Postal Service’s Inspector General found that since the Postal Service eliminated overnight delivery standards in January, there has been a 48 percent increase in the time it takes to process mail. As a result, letters that should have been delivered in three to five days have been late up to 44 percent of the time during the first five months of this year.
“It is abundantly clear that the Postal Service’s decision to shut down more than 140 mail processing plants a few years ago and to eliminate overnight delivery standards this year has been a disaster that is negatively impacting Americans all over this country,” Sanders wrote in the letter. “I would urge the Postal Service to reinstate overnight delivery standards and speed up the delivery of mail as soon as possible.”
The slowdown in mail delivery has hurt seniors living on fixed incomes, veterans, and people living in rural areas particularly hard. In the letter, Sanders noted that “veterans and seniors have complained that it is now taking 9, and sometimes as much as 11 days, for them to receive life-saving prescriptions through the mail.”
Sanders has been leading the fight against cuts to the Postal Service. Sanders noted in the letter that the most significant reason for the financial problems at the Postal Service is due to the 2006 Bush-era mandate forcing it to pay $5.5 billion a year to prefund future retiree benefits. Excluding this mandate, the Postal Service has made more than $2 billion in profits over the past three years.
Sanders also announced he will reintroduce the Postal Service Protection Act, which fixes the immediate fiscal problem of the Postal Service by ending a disastrous Bush-era mandate to pre-fund 75 years of retiree health benefits over a 10-year period; establishes new ways the Postal Service can generate revenue; prevents the closing of rural post offices; protects 6-day delivery; and protects mail processing facilities.
On April 15, 85 senators voted for an amendment that Sen. Sanders offered to the Budget Resolution calling on the Postal Service to reinstate overnight delivery standards for first-class mail and to impose a moratorium on mail processing plant closures.
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“In light of the significant slowdown in mailer delivery, I am writing to urge you to reinstate the regional overnight delivery standards and to do everything possible to speed up these services,” Sanders said.
This is funny….. the unions give Bernie a big check and tell him to make a statement on the delivery standards, and everyone is very supportive…… the only problem is that the USPS has already closed the plants and gotten rid of the workers, and they aren’t going to replace them or open the plants back up because it costs too much….. especially at contact negiotion time….. it looks like Bernie pulled a fast one on us and the union leaders when he took our $……. moreover, Congress has other things to worry about and the PO isn’t one of them
Here, here!
TRUMP all the way, union leaders are a bunch of sheep….well I’m no sheep, I’m the lion eating the sheep!
If congress wakes up and recalculates the amount of current employees at the postal service compared to how many they had in 2006, they would notice that with 140 less plants that means less employees now and for the next 75 yrs. In other words the postal service has already paid for the next 75 yrs of retirees, so now congress is just using this to show the postal service is failing to make a profit. Not to mention if the pre-funding is so important to everyone then why did the postal service go ahead and spend over a billion dollars for new delivery trucks before taking care of looking like they are losing so much money that they can’t pay. Sanders has the right idea, but in order for it to work he has to show everyone all the dumb decisions being made to make the postal service look like a dying horse.
You have big ones Mr. Senator! Why don’t your group of procrastinators get together and figure out Postal reform first. BIG ONES BIG ONES
You ball busters are the cause of this BIG POSTAL MESS in the first place.
Don’t want to hear the same old story about lame duck congress.
Of course everything is screwed up, but we are still getting our bonus. Sorry , I mean pay for performance . We changed the standards so we could keep getting more money. It was easier than doing any real work.
oh…..CNN and MSNBC are real truth tellers? could not even say the guy who assassinated the Houston cop while he was pumping gas was black. you get gulled in by believing this distorted liberal clap trap. the only reason they get away with it is because of low IQ dolts like you. typical high school or less low tier federal govt civil service worker. keep walking you slug or po mismanagement will put you on the street for 2 weeks lol.
Donald Trump 2016! and I hope he sells off the PO to UPS or FDX or both! welcome to the real world of business.
The political season thus far has been interesting. Both Republican voters and Democrats are finally in agreement on one thing: the establishment in D.C. with incumbents screwing us decade after decade at least for the time being could be facing a very shocking election if people stick to their guns and back up Trump or Sanders.
Now it’s true Sanders has been in the Senate a long time, but he is a maverick and the only one who seems to understand and care about the working family, the life of the Postal Service and all the stuff that’s really wrong with the U.S. as opposed to riling up racists, rednecks and Christian fundies with emotional pointless sloganeering, knowing those people are too lazy and/or stupid to question anything FOX News tells them.
Trump of course is a blow hard ultra capitalist who wants to own the U.S. He may be fun to watch right now, but he’s a megalomaniac who will rule by executive order, far more so than any President in history. Nobody is probably more prepared to baldly (pun intended) buy his way into the White House than Trump, and then it’ll be called the Trump House. Pennsylvania Avenue will be Trump Avenue, the city will be Trump D.C. and anybody who isn’t a millionaire several times over will get screwed viciously, including those stupid enough to vote for him.
Sanders may lose votes as a Socialist, but most intelligent people know it’s in name only, and that his platform is straight out of the FDR playbook, and his ideas are damn good ones. Congress will have to have a big turnover for him to implement what he says he’ll do, but at this point Hillary is looking weaker and weaker.
We need new thinking in Washington, the type that helps middle class America, brings jobs back home, makes college affordable for all, and protects the USPS. If you have problems with that, you’re probably too brainwashed to do the right thing, and you can just take the blame if the GOP or Trump gets in and ruins the country.
Obama has been lousy, too, and this from a Democrat. We must hold everybody accountable, tell FOX News to blow, and make our own independent decisions.
Bernie, you the man! Now all you must do is wake up Postal Management and the Ratpublicans that run congress. Not an easy task. Postal management is too busy looking for ways to discipline the inmates, oh I mean the employees. And congress is too busy bending over for the business bastards and looking for ways to start a war any place they can. Any spot in the world will do!
Same in Sioux City, Iowa…..know it all supervisor, disrespectful, barks all the time but has no clue on what he’s doing!
Meanwhile everyday they give overtime two late, two early daily and still can’t get the mail out. There is to many managers and they don’t know what they’re doing. A complete overhaul is needed in upper management and supervision that are mostly disrespectful to all and each other.
We got one of those disrespectful stupidvisors here in Scranton, Pa! It’s a required qualification.. That, and being able to lie with a straight face!
Give em hell, Bernie!
Bernie Sanders, the last chance to save our supposed democracy.
Give the Senator a whole bunch of ” ATTABOYS ” ! ! !
thank you mr. sanders
You go Bernie!
Who ever thought that slowing down the mail would be bad for EVERYONE? There is only one answer:
“Management”
DING DING DING give that man a ceeeeegar 😉
Remember an even dumber idea to go to 5 day delivery and really crater the USPS?
Then along comes a guy like Steve Bezos and all of a sudden we have 7 day delivery
Thanks private sector for straightening out our misaligned management strategy!
RESTORE THE SERVICE THAT MAKES US GREAT
he mailed a letter? Washington dc to Washington dc..the post master general will get it in 4 to 6 days
latest poll……….Donald Trump is up to 40%. he mentioned the federal government is incompetent in everything they do………….working at the po cesspool 29 years I have to agree with him.
solve immigration Donald, than please send your management team in to do a complete audit of the PO from top to bottom. and why not unless you are a communist.
If the Senate won’t confirm the five nominees to the Board of Governors, what makes you think there’s any chance they will pass a bill that will lift the $5.5 billion pre-fund mandate that’s being spent on other agencies anyway?
Yeah, you eliminate this pre-funding madness, we make a profit, I get a hefty bonus then we’ll talk about reinstate overnight delivery standards.
Our only natural alliance nowadays r older, mostly retirees with money. In short, the CNBC/Bloomberg investor-class, who r rightfully distrustful of only on-line statements. Dimondstein’s Grand Alliance is GRAND rubbish. And we have all complete lost our minds, if we r seriously considering, either Sanders or Trump; as our next U.S. President.