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Comment by gopher_space | Hacker News Reader

> They have been the most consistently reliable delivery service where I live (though the post office is pretty good too).

Every service relies on the USPS to some extent, which makes the Republican attempt to gut the organization so baffling. There's no replacement and nobody is looking to replace it.

From my perspective as an ex letter carrier, your personal experience with package delivery is determined almost entirely by whoever runs the local hub and handles last-mile. Unfortunately it's a McDonald's Assistant Manager kind of role; anyone truly competent will be able to find better work sooner or later.

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It took the 2020 pandemic for Republicans to finally get on board and pass the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.

Postmaster Dejoy began dismantling critical sorting machines, reducing and limiting overtime, &c only 6 months into lockdown, well before there was a COVID vaccine. Knowing full well the problems it would cause. For example, many remote rural addresses are only serviced by USPS, and people rely on it for timely prescriptions. IMO it was massive public outcry that prevented a great deal more destruction.

https://www.vox.com/2020/8/18/21374014/post-office-usps-loui...

In Washington we were giving each other the advice to use ballot dropoff boxes because the postal service had disassembled half of their sorting machines in the month or two leading up to the November election and we were all concerned that mailing the ballots would have led to postmark dates after election day.

I live in an apartment. I get mail for 4 or 5 previous tenants. I get corporate spam. I have unsubscribed from as much as I can, I have a return to sender stamp and have used it, yet I am inundated with trash on a daily basis. Technically, it is illegal for me to throw out this trash. In my opinion there is a massive amount of waste moving through USPS and the organization could use some serious cuts in order to take stock of what actually needs to be delivered.

You've done everything except talk to the one human being involved who appears at your residence every single day. If I was your letter carrier and knew you felt this way I'd honestly be hurt that you didn't bother to ask me about any of it.

> the organization could use some serious cuts

Miss the part about them being the backbone of package delivery in this country? Or the part where there's nobody to replace them? Well it doesn't matter since the USPS is financially self-sustaining.

> the USPS is financially self-sustaining.

Sarcasm I hope?

https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4138391-the-usps-n...

Preventing DeJoy levels of sabotage lies outside the USPS remit.

My letter carrier is fantastic. We stop and catch up for a bit when he's delivering. I see so much mail for previous residents in my Informed Delivery email that never arrives because he knows who lives here and returns to sender for us.

My letter carrier is a young man with headphones in who cannot be bothered to read the address on the penny saver that he stuffs into my mail slot (I have unsubscribed).

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