Remember the good old days at the United States Postal Service, USPS. Mail men and woman would deliver the mail neatly dressed in their uniforms. You knew their name. You knew approximately what time they would arrive. The only deviation would be on the one day your mail person had off. If you went on vacation the mail person would bring your mail to your home or apartment the day you returned.
If you lived in an apartment building you didn’t need to have your mail addressed to you with an apartment number. You didn’t know the zip code you were sending your letter to. Someone at the post office would look it up and add it. If you got a package the mail person would ring your doorbell vs. just leaving the package at your door with no knock. The mail person would go out of their way to leave your package with a neighbor so it wouldn’t sit on the porch or at your apartment door.
So what happened? Try leaving off the zip code. Return. Try leaving office the apartment number. Return. Package, thrown at your door with no knock to see if you are home. Yep. Left with a neighbor? Fat chance.
Other than at the Post Office, chances are the person delivering your mail is not in regulation uniform. Probably has a head set or ear buds listening to music. If you have a slot do you think that mail is going to be put in it. If it is half is probably sticking out. Perfect for criminals to get to.
I don’t blame the mail carriers. I blame the supervisors. Try to reach a supervisor at the 10701 post office in Yonkers. Better chance of reaching the President. I’ve been told by other Post Office Supervisors that trying to reach anyone at the 10701 Post Office in the beautiful, old building in Getty Square on Main Street is an impossible task. I’ve experienced it myself. Only when you go in person and raise holy hell will you get a response.
This all started when 10-15 years ago the postal service tried to modernize bringing in young college graduates that knew nothing about mail delivery. The postal service years ago would promote from within. Now you have kids who have never delivered a piece of mail running the candy store.
And friends, sad to say it’s going to get worse. Donald Trump got a majority on the Post Office Board of Directors and brought in some clown named Louis DeJoy, a businessman who knows nothing about the postal service. His mission given to him by President Trump was to make the post office self sufficient and cut wherever he could.
Now I’m not just blaming President Trump for this mess. I am blaming President Biden too. Biden obtained a majority of Board Members at the Postal Service but for some strange reason, unbeknownst to man DeJoy still sits in charge. DeJoy is universally hated by Democrats and Republicans. Remember, the Post Office is one of the few agencies that touches the lives of every America. We all get mail delivery, some more than others. And we want that mail delivered promptly. Much of it like bills and magazines and business documents is time sensitive.
Do we hear a peep out of the United States Senate to get rid of DeJoy? A peep from Congress to get rid of DeJoy? In Yiddish it’s called bubkis (nothing). The internet is great, but it will never replace good mail service. The Congressman who represents Westchester, Jamaal Bowman is more concerned about Rikers Island than all of his constituents who rely on the mail. Some to get checks they live on, communications from beloved family members, packages in a COVID world where many are ordering over the internet.
Rikers Island has been a problem before Congressman Bowman even dreamed about running for Congress. Mayor deBlasio, not one of my favorite characters devised a plan to house those at Rikers Island in smaller jails in the neighborhoods where those being detained come from. Of course who wants a jail in their neighborhood? Congressman Bowman and his federal and state colleagues make believe that the conditions in Rikers Island developed overnight.
People who are incarcerated are innocent until proven guilty. That’s the beauty of America. But in our society there are some people who do bad things. They must be taken off the streets. They deserve basic accommodations, three square meals, and rehabilitation so they don’t do the same things over again. A timely hearing to determine their innocence or guilty.
Those who are guilty of serious crimes deserve serious jail time. The bail reform passed by the State Legislature several years ago is a disaster. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said it earlier this week in the pages of our daily newspaper. I’ve heard it said again and again by the same State officials that approved it. Meanwhile you have the District Attorney in Manhattan saying don’t set high bail. Some officials say let those who have committed crimes leave Rikers Island. Something wrong with this picture. Wonder why businesses have not come back to New York. People are afraid of crime. Period!
If you were to ask people in Yonkers, the second largest city in Congressman Bowman’s district, the city where he lives what’s more important to them, the quality of their mail service or the state of Rikers Island, I bet over half would not know what Rikers Island was. The Congressman is my neighbor in the Park Hill Section of Yonkers. People are upset about the lousy mail service we get. I speak to a broad spectrum of people in Congressman Bowman’s district and very few have positive things to say about the United States Post Office.
President Biden has a majority on the United States Postal Service Board and can’t get rid of DeJoy? And we wonder why we had the fiasco in Afghanistan? But I blame the postal service mess not only on Biden but on our United States Senators and Congressman who are allowing this debacle to happen.
Dejoy’s plan. Examine and possibly raise postal rates twice a year. You can expect mail being delivered 140 or fewer miles to be delivered within two days. Within three days for mail traveling between 140 and 930 miles. Four days for mail traveling between 930 and 1,907 miles. And within five days for mail traveling longer distances. All increases over the current delivery time frame.
The increased time stems from a change that moves more mail delivery to roads and out of planes. About 20% of first-class mail was previously transported by air, but USPS said just 12% of mail will be sent by plane under the new changes. To be honest I view these time increases as a gift from DeJoy to Federal Express, United Parcel Service and other private services who will deliver the mail faster for a higher price. And provide campaign cash to DeJoy’s supporters.
Something I never understood. A piece of standard 1 ounce mail from Yonkers to White Plains costs the same as the same piece of mail from Yonkers to California. This makes absolutely no sense. The transportation costs from Yonkers to California certainly are greater than the cost from Yonkers to White Plains. A package traveling the same distance costs more, why not a piece of plain 1 ounce mail. Has anyone every studied that? Good way to raise funds to keep mail travel times from changing.
Our friends who represent us in Washington, D.C. from the President on down have a lot of explaining to do how they let the once proud United States Postal Service go to shambles.
‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” is emblazoned on the main Post Office in New York City. Is that true anymore?
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
