Trump’s USPS Sabotage Hurts Americans Across The Country
August 14, 2020
Trump’s intentional sabotage of the United States Postal Service is not only making it harder for Americans to vote safely in the pandemic and holding up coronavirus relief for millions of struggling Americans, but it is also hurting small businesses, keeping workers from getting their paychecks, and preventing veterans from getting the medications they need.
Trump’s USPS slowdown is hurting small business owners from coast to coast:
North Carolina small business owner: “Lots of small businesses rely on certain postage rates that are considerably cheaper. Every commercial business that’s not like a restaurant on this street uses the postal service to mail out product. Every single one. … You can’t afford to send things through other carriers if you’re just a small business sending one or two things at a time.”
Florida small business owner: “As a small business, I can’t afford to have my shipments late or lost. … Customers don’t care that it isn’t my fault. And because this hasn’t hit national news to any degree, people don’t know this is happening so they expect their orders.”
Texas business owner: “We have customers come to us wondering where their package is. ‘I paid for 2-day shipping’ … And we always do everything priority. So that’s 2-day shipping. And it’s just frustrating when we’re paying for 2 days and then 2 weeks it’s still not there.”
California turkey farmer: “It took the turkey chicks so long to get here, they were half dead when I got them out of the box.”
Tennessee small business mentor: “Most small businesses use the U.S. Postal Service to send their stuff, so any type of slowdown is going to dramatically impact their business. … People are going to get angry and dissatisfied with how long it’s taking.”
In the middle of an economic crisis, people are stuck waiting for their paychecks to arrive:
Pennsylvania resident: “Donald Bullock said he has gone three weeks without his mail — leaving 71 letters and three packages, including two paychecks, sitting inside the Overbrook post office, according to his USPS mail alerts.”
Maryland resident: “We haven’t had any mail since last Saturday … We thought maybe it will be Monday and nothing, and nothing today either. During the pandemic I’m working from home so they mail my check. I got paid Friday. I haven’t gotten anything.”
Americans, including veterans, aren’t getting the medications they need:
Connecting Vets: “The vast majority of Department of Veterans Affairs prescriptions are fulfilled by mail. But as U.S. Postal Service delays mount, more and more veterans are reporting long wait times to receive critical medication and VA staff says the problem is only growing.”
Veteran: “What used to take days now takes weeks.”
Veteran: “We depend on these medications…This could be devastating. I can’t go without.”
Veteran: “I received my life-saving medication 20 days late.”
Veteran: “I ordered five weeks early, expecting delays. My meds were still late.”
Veteran: “I have a statement right here. It was picked up on (August) the third, from the VA by a postal official. But it never left Shreveport in the mail to come here to Ringgold. It’s still lodged somewhere in Shreveport.”
Pennsylvania resident: “Valerie Rice said her mail has arrived only once every two weeks in July. She receives medication for her 25-year-old grandson, who has autism, through the mail. But now it doesn’t come on time, forcing her to go to different drugstores across the city, in hopes they have what he needs. ‘I try to stay by him and pray for life that I have what I need to take care of him,’ said Rice, 65.”