Reporter Finds High-Speed Sorters Still Being Dismantled at Downtown USPS Office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Day After Sabotage Was Allegedly Suspended
August 20, 2020
postal clerk Enrique Garza sorts through incoming mail (USAF photographic archives)
By Kerry Eleveld
Here’s a cautionary tale from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an investigative reporter for WOOD-TV tweets that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service continues.
“Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office,” reporter Heather Walker tweeted Wednesday. “Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy.”
Process started yesterday—the same day that Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy supposedly said he would “suspend” the changes he’s been implementing that have slowed mail delivery to a crawl across the country. DeJoy issued the statement after news of his efforts to hamstring mail delivery drew front-page headlines across the country last week, but he also said nothing about reversing the measures he’s already taken to date.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel responded to Walker’s tweet: “When people asked why we were determined to continue our lawsuit against the Postmaster General despite his "promise" to discontinue efforts to dismantle the USPS-this is why.”
DeJoy said post office hours would not change, mail processing and collection equipment would not be removed, mail processing facilities would not be closed, and overtime hours would continue to be approved “as needed." Of course, need is purely subjective, especially when DeJoy has every motivation to incapacitate the Postal Service. So maybe those overtime hours will be necessary to continue DeJoy’s urgent dismantling of USPS infrastructure.
Here Walker documents a “graveyard of mail sorting pieces” at a USPS location in West Michigan on Wednesday.
UPDATE: Adding a postscript here—the destruction of these perfectly good USPS sorting machines not isolated to one locale by any means.
Posted with permission