Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-04-20)

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BloombergBusinessweek April 20, 2020

nonprofitsthatusethemailsaythere

wassomeRepublicansupportinboth

chambersfordirectfinancialaid.

Trumpsteadfastlyopposedanycash

infusion.Theseniorofficialwhocon-

firmedthissaystheadministrationwas

loathtousethestimulustorescuean

agencyit consideredonthevergeoffail-

urebeforethecrisisbegan.Whythrow

moneyattheUSPS,theofficialasks,

whentheadministrationhadalready

proposedmeasuresthatwouldrestore

itsfinancialhealth,suchaseliminating

therightsofthepostalunionstocollec-

tivelybargainforwages?

TheUSPSrespondedwithmuted

disappointmenttothe$10billionloan

Trumpultimatelyagreedto,issuinga

statementsayingthat,thoughit appre-

ciatedhavingtheoption,borrowing

moremoneywouldn’tforestalldisaster.

Theservice’ssupporterssaytheloan

willonlyworsentheagency’sfinancial

woes,andtheAPWUhasofferedan

evenstrongercritique.“Ratherthan

enhanceandupholdandstrengthen

thePostalService,it seemsthisadmin-

istrationisusingthecrisistomove

inwith theirprivatization agenda,”

Dimondsteinsays.

Nowattentionturnstothenextstim-

ulusbill.HouseSpeakerNancyPelosi

istalkingaboutincludingasmuchas

$4billiontoincreasevotingbymailin

theNovemberpresidentialelection.

Supportersliketheimplications:The

USPS,beleagueredthoughit is,stands

ready to rescue American democ-

racy,whichlikesomuchelsehasbeen

imperiledbythevirus.Trumpsayshe’s

opposed.“Ithinkmail-invotingis hor-

rible.It’scorrupt,”hetoldreporters on

April7, thoughthere’slittleevidence of

this.Hethenacknowledgedthathe’d

votedbymailhimselfinthelastFlorida

election.

Ifthere’sgoodnewsfortheUSPS,

asthevirusspreadsandmailvolume

declines,it’sthatGraingeris nowpro-

vidingworkers with sufficient pro-

tective gear.“At thispoint intime,

there’sabsolutelynoreasonthatany

employeeinthePostalServiceshould

nothavethepersonalprotectiveequip-

mentthattheyneedoutinthefield,”

says Ronnie Stutts, president of the

115,000-member National Rural Letter

Carriers Association. “Masks and gloves

have been made available to everyone.

We’re now hearing that we have liter-

ally hundreds of thousand of bottles of

hand sanitizer.”

In New York, Smith sees improvement,

too. “I will admit they’re starting to get

the supplies up to speed,” he says. “I’m

not getting as many calls about the lack

of gloves, the lack of masks.” Still, Smith

says, sanitizer and wipes are scarce.

So, it would seem, is time. But the

USPS will again remind everyone of

its essentialness to American life soon

enough. Stimulus checks should start

appearing in mailboxes around the end

of this month. <BW>

DATA :

U S P S

▲ Inside the John Street branch in Manhattan

Revenue

Expenses

Compensationand benefits

Retirementbenefits

Retireehealthbenefits

Transportation

Other

USPS revenue and expenses in

fiscal 2019

$71.2b

$47.5b

6.2

4.6

8.2

13.5