In 1988, long before Mr. Trump was President, I was part of a team that worked on a review of the US Postal Service the focus, the short version, of which was to evaluate the overall efficiencies of the system and to make recommendations for their improvement. The process went on for a period of fourteen months and as the months accumulate it become increasingly clear that no amount of time or analysis was ever going to cure the inefficiencies of the Post Office and this was because the Postal Service, like mostly all government functions/operations, lacks one very simply overriding mandate: Financial, Performance and Operational Accountability. Government entities (each seemingly with an ever-increasing number of liberties) have become, ostensibly, self-mandated operations that rise to one and only one occasion: An ever-increasing annual budget, the one thing government does remarkably well.
“… it is more likely that a system is failing not because of a systemic design flaw but more so because its being asked to fulfill a function, and often in an environment, it was never designed for.”
At the conclusion of the fifteen-month analysis the workgroup sat in a conference room, each attendant with their stack of work papers and the required bullet-list of conclusions and recommendations, hopefully. Normally, on such an occasion, each attendant would be eager to reveal their findings and recommendations, not so in this instance as the expressions on our faces merely oscillated between bewilderment or no expression at all. It wasn’t long before the team’s senior manager looked around the table and asked if anyone wanted to take the lead, not a one took the bait. He turned and looked at me and said, “alright Greco, let’s have it.” The response I gave has since become one that I regularly use to describe a great many failures and I believe the simplicity of it wonderfully suits the current state of affairs equally well:
“It’s should be abundantly clear to everyone that the system’s operational requirements are fairly straight forward and for this reason one should expect they should be deployed with ease, e.g., mail is either picked up or dropped off with an implicit understanding that it will be promptly delivered to an identified addressee, at a deliverable address and arriving in good form; again, fairly straight forward. Now then, it is true that the system appears to do a remarkable job meeting this simple mandate and yet, over time, there’s been a cumulative effect occurring, something taking place between the pick-up/dropped-off function and the closing event that we think of as delivery.
Yes indeed, some force is continuing to distance the system from itself. In other words, it is more likely that a system is failing not because of a systemic design flaw but more so because its being asked to fulfill (a much different term than ‘perform’) a function, and often in an environment, it was never designed for.”
The Post Office then (circa 1988) as now faces many of the same challenges: The PO continues to suffer from an increase demand and yet the basic methods remain the same. True, sorting tech has vastly improved but deliver-address and density growth has been massive, population dynamics have been wildly random, online retail has been explosive, direct mail marketing remains a give-away, capital equipment, vehicle costs and labor/retirement costs are all primary in the expense vs revenue battle.
The Post Office, like the Patriarch of Government Workforce it mirrors, is treated as a pet government project the type insulated from the stresses of a world every other wage-earning middle-American must deal with. These entities have their own ideological-representatives coursing thru the halls of State and Federal Government making sure these bureaucracies are well cared for; like government, there are no checks and balances that direct or oversee financial or operational performances or prohibitions but none of this should come as a surprise and yet, there is one challenge that did not exist in 1988, a component that was never considered as not a one of us ever thought that government would be used to turn against the most sacred function of all, the right to vote.
The Nation is in the death-throws of a full-scale fight for an unknown future and the American Public is being twisted into submission with an entirely new script: The U.S. Postal Service is now to be the political medium of choice, the determining factor for voting the legitimacy of which, count on it, will be determined by the Political Party opposing the (then) sitting Postmasters (the current appointment, Louis DeJoy, was appointed by Trump.)
The DNC is already staging a direct assault on what they expect to be a Trump victory. A full-frontal assault on the Courts for the express purposes of delegitimatizing the November 3rd election and using the Post Office as yet another foil integral to their scheme. The only way for the American Public to hold-fast to their representative democracy is to refuse to participate in this well-planned abuse. Voting is of course a right but the right is of no significance if you refuse to affirm your duty to do so and there are only two appropriate ways to affirm your duty: (1) Voting in person at your assigned precinct. Or, (2) By way of an Absentee Ballot. Period! You must never accept an alternative because if you do you are playing into the hand of influences bent on encouraging the public to question the authenticity of their elections.
The question of the efficacy and reliability of “broadcast” (a.k.a., unsolicited ballot by mail) balloting has long been proven as deeply flawed and long opposed by both Parties. Why the sudden change? Why now? Very simple: The system that has long officiated the raping and pillaging of this Nation is, for the first time, being seriously challenged and they’ll fight with ever means and mechanism possible to keep from losing that privilege. If you think it’s about Trump, you’re not looking deep enough.
For those of you who are at risk for adopting the media story claiming that Trump is institutionalizing Postal System Defects should read the following article: 10 Myths About the U.S. Postal Service
For those not at risk I suggest you read it anyways so that you are equipped to repel exhibitions of ignorance.
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
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