Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-09-07)

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ELECTION 2020

4. THE VOTE

If there’sonethingKennyMontgomery

thoughthecouldalwayscounton,it

wasthearrivaloftheU.S.mail.He’d

deliveredit himselfduringheatwaves

and blizzardsinRochester, N.Y.He

trudgedthroughthecitywitha mail

sackoverhisshoulderduringthe 1991

icestormthatclosedbusinessesand

governmentofficesandleftresidents

coweringintheirhomeswithoutpower.

Theymightnothavebeenabletoturn

onthelights,buttheygottheirmail.

Lastmonth,however,onthemorning

ofAug.1, Montgomery,presidentofthe

localbranchoftheNationalAssociation

ofLetterCarriers(NALC),sawhisfaith

shaken.Almost 120 of hismembers

reportedtothecity’seightpostoffices,

he says,andfound that trucks had

broughtthempackagesfromprocess-

ingplantsbutnota singlepieceofwhat

heclassifiesasmail.Noletters,nobills,

nopostcards,greetingcards,magazines,

catalogs,orfundraisingappeals.“Thisis

my33rdyearofservice,”hesays.“There

arelightdays,andthereareheavydays,

but I havenever experienced a day

where no mail shows up.”

That’swhenMontgomerybeganto

fearforthefutureofthe245-year-old

U.S.PostalService.If thiswastheser-

viceAmericanscouldnowexpect,why

wouldn’t theyturntoFedEx Corp.,

UnitedParcelService Inc.,or some

other private operation thatbrings

thingstotheirdoors?“Ifthiscontin-

ues,we’regoingtolosetheconfidence

ofourcustomers,” he says. “It snowballs

fromthere.”

Montgomerysaysheknowswho’s

to blame: U.S. Postmaster General

LouisDeJoy,a formerlogisticscom-

pany executive and financial sup-

porterofPresidentTrump,whotook

overtheagencyonJune15.DeJoyhas

saidhewantstotransformthePostal

Service,which is facing an $11 bil-

lionloss thisyear.Widespreadinci-

dentsofdelayedmailhavegivenrise

totheoriesthatDeJoywantstodisrupt

thefallelectiononbehalfofthepresi-

dent,whohascalledtheUSPS“ajoke”

andquestioneditsability tohandle

ananticipatedsurgeinvotingbymail

thisfall.SohasthePostalService’s

decommissioning of 671 mail- sorting

machinesacrossthecountryandthe

recentremovalof 700 collectionboxes.

“Theywerecaughtred-handeddoing

this,andthewholecountryisinan

uproar,” U.S. Representative Jamie

Raskin,a Democratfrom Maryland,

saidonAug. 20 ata hearingheldbythe

CongressionalProgressiveCaucus, a

groupofliberalDemocrats.

Twodayslater,DemocraticSpeaker

oftheHouseNancyPelosicalledher

chamberbackfromsummerrecessto

passa billtorollbackchangesthathave

takenplaceduringDeJoy’sbrieftenure.

It alsocontainsa $25billioncashinfu-

siontocovertheUSPS’sCovid-related

losses,a standingHouserequestsince

thespring.There’slittlechancethe

Republican-controlledSenatewilltake

upthebill,andevenif it did,Trump

wouldlikely vetoit. Inyetanother

attempttocallintoquestionthePostal

Service’scompetence,he’sarguedthat

withoutthesefundsthere’snochance

the USPS can handlethe expected

mountainofpostalballots.“Ifwedon’t

makea deal,thatmeanstheydon’tget

the money. That means they can’t have

Easy Part

Whatcomesaftertheelection could be

wrenchingfortheUSPS

By Devin Leonard

DEJOY: TOM WILLIAMS/REUTERS