I am a retired letter carrier. Throughout my 17 years at the U.S. Postal Service, we had regular stand-up talks for sharing important information. Every quarter, every USPS employee was informed how well we were meeting our delivery standard for first-class mail, which was: next day for all local, and 3 days anywhere nation-wide. I scarcely recall the national standard dropping below 94% (and local was consistently higher). Three days, anywhere in the U.S.
Now Postmaster General DeJoy assures us that, if we mail our ballots seven days before the election, they will make it.
Had President Donald Trump appointed DeJoy pandemic czar instead of Postmaster General, he could have applied his vast logistics expertise to producing and distributing coronavirus testing materials and personal protective equipment, so states wouldn’t have had to compete for them, resulting in lengthy delays, expense, duplicated effort and stress.
On the other hand, a 7-day wait for coronavirus test results might have been the new standard. Trump to his personnel advisor? “You’re fired!”
Karen Maskarinec
Eagle River
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