Ever since President Donald Trump's loyal and Postmaster general Louis DeJoy brought in the institutional changes at the United States Postal Service (USPS), many people across the US are complaining about the delay in the delivery of their mail, packages, and medicines.
The changes that altered the organizational structure of the agency just three months ahead of the November 3 election have been roundly criticized for its timing and the delayed services. But most importantly, people are concerned if the changes at the agency will affect the delivery of mail-in ballots during the November election.
The lingering fear is palpable as topics like USPS, USPS sabotage, USPSSlowDown, USPS_is_essential, USPSILoveYou, and others are continuously trending on Twitter.
Considering that these changes are brought at the time when the US, along with the whole world, is suffering from coronavirus pandemic, and the general election in the country is scheduled within two months, everyone is concerned if the election would be free and fair from any internal or external influences. That said, the threat of Russian interference intact.
Call for FedEx, UPS to step up
This lingering concern is making people wonder if private mail service companies like UPS and FedEx can come to the rescue of the general public by delivering mail-in ballots on time during the election.
Quite understandably, these ideas and efforts are desperate callings in order to ensure fair election at the time when some of the national agencies are being hamstrung from doing the tasks that they were created for.
However, those who suggest that private companies could be roped in for delivering mail-in ballots on time could remember that this might not serve them the intended result.
The reason for this is that by nature, all private companies, function for profits over public service. If for e.g, UPS and FedEx are to deliver mail-in ballots, they would charge a higher price than the USPS for each mail raising the total election cost for the states. In contrast, USPS being a national company places service ahead of profit and charges 20 cents for each mail delivered.
Secondly, as some argue, resorting to private companies for delivering mail and packages is what business-minded politicians like Donald Trump, Postmaster general DeJoy and private companies want.
For a long time, Trump has called for privatizing USPS but has not been able to succeed. Now with these changes at USPS in the name of cost-cutting to contain losses at the agency, Trump's loyal is making the ground ready for private companies to take over the delivery system and mint money with every package or mail delivered.
According to one report, Postmaster general Louis DeJoy has stake both in UPS and FedEx and any outsourcing with these companies will stand to benefit DeJoy.
The efforts towards slowing down and making it an organization without teeth are going on in full swing ahead of the elections. As per the report in The VICE, 15 per cent of the mail sorting machines, which cost millions of dollars, at the USPS have either been destroyed or have been thrown to the dumpster. As a result thousand of mail and packages are lying in the stores unsorted.
Donald Trump has long claimed voter fraud via mail-in ballots but has been failed to provide proof of it. His efforts to delay the election on the pretext of coronavirus pandemic didn't get the result. So, the changes at USPS, many see as his another effort to hamper the election result.
