Welcome back to the show.
If I seem excited, it's because my family just took our best
holiday card picture to date.
Almost everyone's eyes were open and only
one kid looks like a murderer.
But with slowdown still plaguing the post office,
everyone's awkward Christmas cards may not arrive in time.
I talked to the President of the New
York Area Postal Workers Union to find out what can be done.
Remember when Trump wanted to steal the election
by stopping mail-in ballots?
And during his administration, they
nominated Louis DeJoy, a wealthy Republican donor
with no USPS experience to Postmaster General?
I know very little about postage stamps.
And remember how comedians like this iconic duo
got so angry that we tried to save the USPS
with hilarious campaigns?
Well, they didn't work to find out
why comedy couldn't save the whole post office,
I sat down with the president.
No, not that one.
This president of the New York Metro Area
Postal Union, Jonathan Smith.
I believe Mr. DeJoy brings no DeJoy to the postal workers,
and bringing no DeJoy to this holiday season.
I believe that he was sent to sabotage
not just the Postal Service, but the people's confidence
in the Postal Service.
I see.
So his agenda is to destroy confidence in what we do.
I don't even know what the Postmaster General really does,
but I can tell that he is doing a very bad job.
How do I know that?
Well, I haven't gotten my latest copy
of "Cat Fancy" in four months.
But also this.
He's recently proposed his own 10-year plan for the Postal
Service, something the Washington Post calls
the, quote, "largest rollback of consumer
mail services in a generation."
The delays hitting working class families
and seniors the hardest.
People aren't getting medication.
They're not getting their paychecks.
Mail is being lost.
So what gives?
And what is DeJoy doing to make the mail so slow?
Well, first thing, he took the mail processing equipment out.
This is what we use to process the mail.
Then he changed the routes.
He told the trucks if the mail is not there,
send them out empty.
He cut overtime.
You know, he put all these policies into place to make
it harder for us to do our job.
Who is adversely affected by postal slowdowns?
The elderly person that's not computer literate.
That small business owner that cannot compete
with these large conglomerates.
Those soldiers overseas that need to get a word from home.
Also, the people who depend on their daily Bed
Bath and Beyond coupons.
I get it, Biden has a lot on his plate.
It's finally infrastructure week, et cetera, et cetera.
But just get rid of this guy already!
What is Biden doing about Louis DeJoy?
Biden does not have the power to get rid of Louis DeJoy.
That power is vested in the Board of Governors.
Oh my god, is there anything that he is allowed to do?
I'm not going to touch that.
OK, I will.
The USPS Board of Governors has sole power to fire DeJoy,
and Biden nominates the board.
Currently, the chair of the board, Ron Bloom
sets its agenda.
And surprise, this rich white man
is friends with this rich white man!
And the scariest part is, Bloom's former company helped
privatize the UK mail, which it seems he
and DeJoy are gearing up for on this side of the pond.
If you privatize the Postal Service,
if it was not cost-efficient to the Postal Service, they
will not deliver your mail.
And then we'll instantly go up on the prices.
I see.
See, the Postal Service was written into the Constitution
as a service, not a business.
And if it were a business, it would
be able to abandon rural communities like FedEx
and UPS have done.
But what can we do, other than send a strongly worded letter
and hope it arrives in three to five business days?
Well, how you would do that, you would
have to call the White House.
OK.
And you would have to tell them,
all they have to do is get a nominee right now.
Because Bloom, his term is up as of December 8.
He's in his holdover year.
All Biden has to do is nominate someone else to take his seat.
Once that nominee is approved, then Ron Bloom is gone.
I have to stop you for a second,
because I noticed that you said call the White House
and not send them a letter.
Is that because you know for a fact
that they're blocking my letters?
Because I send a lot of them.
And we have to send these letters in ASAP.
Because if not, we could be stuck with DeJoy.
We are the best mail service in the world.
We are best at what we do.
And just like they said, during anthrax, we were heroes.
During Sandy, we were heroes.
And we're still heroes today.
Everybody forgets about anthrax!
Yeah, we take a lot of pride in what we do.
We do not deliver Republican mail,
we do not deliver Democratic mail.
What we deliver is America's mail.
Look, if it were up to me you guys would
have your own Marvel movie.
I would sign on for that.
Postal workers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Yeah, you're welcome, Disney.
But more importantly, thank you to these heroes.
We'll be right back.
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