Hoo Boy ... DeJoy! By Jim Hightower [View all]

[justaprogressive]

Woe is us (the American people) for having our jewel of a national Postal Service saddled with a corporate-minded postmaster general, Louis DeJoy. Formerly CEO of a private shipping contractor, DeJoy's chief qualification for running this invaluable public service is that he's been a major donor to Republican politicians — including Donald Trump, who appointed him to the post.

In 2020, the new honcho put forth a 10-year scheme to "save" the people's post office by imposing boilerplate corporate tactics — downsize staff, cut service and raise prices. He gave his plan a zippy PR slogan: "Delivering for America." But delivering less for more is a hard sell, and people soon started rebelling against absurdly late delivery, closure of local branches, long lines at understaffed postal counters, and relentless price hikes, including another 8% increase this year.

Excuse my bad play on words, but there is no joy in seeing an essential public service needlessly gutted. Millions of us rely on timely mail delivered by the amazing network of public postal workers. Their linking any one ZIP code to all others is a pillar of our democracy, not only servicing the well-off and corporate elites, but crucial to small businesses, rural communities, people getting medicines by mail — as well as to millions of us wanting to vote by mail this November.

Four years of DeJoy's corporate gimmicks to "improve" our postal service by shriveling it have proven disastrous — and the harm is spreading. Enough! This is a time when your voice can matter, for a bipartisan outcry is demanding that Congress and/or the postal board of governors step in pronto to terminate DeJoy's political meddling. For information and action go to: TakeOnWallSt.com.

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