VBD2 is closed. Please go to https://vbd3.co.uk instead.

It's madness. I've stopped buying from USA. One of mine went from USA, all round Canada, back to USA, then to me in UK.

58oldsfan wrote: I don't want to see the USPS privatized as it would more than likely greatly increase the cost of shipping. But then again, costs seem to go up every year anyway! A good business plan might pull it off!

The problem here is that there is no "trump business plan" for the post office. The only plan, by trumps own words and comments, is to deprive the USPS of funds and slow it to a halt to prevent mail in voting because of his mysterious and completely unfounded claim of voter fraud (which his admin has never been able to produce one fact or shred of evidence to back up these comments).  Further compounding the starvation of funding is his order to the Post Master General to shut down many of the sorting machines required to provide a functional system.

Trumps appointment of the postmaster General is also extremely controversial because the DeJoy has invested heavily in firms that directly compete with the USPS and those same firms are benefiting from the USPS slow down and financial starvation. Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his wife have between them as much as $75.3 million in assets in U.S. Postal Service competitors and contractors. The man Trump put in charge of the U.S. Postal Service has the most to gain from its destruction. DeJoy, a huge financial contributor to the trump political campaigns, marks a return to political appointees (DeJoy is one of several political appointees trump has made the the USPS) to the office which has been free of political leadership since the end of the 1960's.

I posted a parcel containing my 3 books to the USA from Perth Western Australia and

the person received it in 10 days, No complaints there.

George T.

Yet last month I mailed a letter within my own state and it was "lost in the mail." I don't ever recall having any letter mail ever being lost. Sadly, the lost letter's contents were valuable.

Tinman wrote:

58oldsfan wrote: I don't want to see the USPS privatized as it would more than likely greatly increase the cost of shipping. But then again, costs seem to go up every year anyway! A good business plan might pull it off!

The problem here is that there is no "trump business plan" for the post office. The only plan, by trumps own words and comments, is to deprive the USPS of funds and slow it to a halt to prevent mail in voting because of his mysterious and completely unfounded claim of voter fraud (which his admin has never been able to produce one fact or shred of evidence to back up these comments).  Further compounding the starvation of funding is his order to the Post Master General to shut down many of the sorting machines required to provide a functional system.

Trumps appointment of the postmaster General is also extremely controversial because the DeJoy has invested heavily in firms that directly compete with the USPS and those same firms are benefiting from the USPS slow down and financial starvation. Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his wife have between them as much as $75.3 million in assets in U.S. Postal Service competitors and contractors. The man Trump put in charge of the U.S. Postal Service has the most to gain from its destruction. DeJoy, a huge financial contributor to the trump political campaigns, marks a return to political appointees (DeJoy is one of several political appointees trump has made the the USPS) to the office which has been free of political leadership since the end of the 1960's.

The President does not appoint the Postmaster General, he is appointed by the Board of Governors of the Post Office. The sorting machines that were and are being dismantled are obsolete. I'd like to see the proof of Trump's plan to deprive then postal service of funds. Trump actually tried to get them emergency funding, but the democrats weren't having it. I believe it was of the order of 10 billion dollars. Also like to see proof that Trump ordered the shutdown of the sorting machines. That will be a tall order, as those machines and facilities began to be phased out during the Obama administration. The USPS has been pulling mailboxes off the streets since the Obama administration as well. There is simply no need for so many with the advent of on line business and email. That's part of the reason the post office is going broke. People don't use them as much as they used to! Nobody is arguing the point that the USPS could use some improvement. We've all had things lost or seriously delayed. I've also had that happen with their competitors. As far as voter fraud? I vote by absentee ballot - by mail. I had to prove who I am in order to get that ballot sent to me. Are all the voters who are sent ballots by mass mailing going to need to prove their identity? If so, great. If not, there is opportunity for fraud. There is little doubt that the democrats, or at least some of them, are willing to do anything to get President Trump out of office. Can you be sure that there will be no fraud with mass ballot mailings? Whoever wins this election needs to do it fair and square. I fear the lawyers are going to make it a big mess of it in any case. What could make the USPS run more efficiently and possibly profitably? Running it more like a business than a government entity. If it keeps going the way it is, it will fail completely sooner or later. Will you be happy with mail delivery then? I know I won't. Like it or not, whoever does it, whether it be under President Trump, or whatever "businessman or woman" who can contribute good ideas and planning, the post office needs to change. Could the current Postmaster General use the expertise he has gained with the USPS's competitors? Could be. It's possible that's why the Board of Governors appointed him. It's usually a good idea to appoint someone with experience in the field. Can we just throw more good taxpayer money after bad at the USPS? Sure! Is that the best thing to do? No! It's not just the post office that needs streamlining, it's the whole government. Democrats are for big government. Republicans are not. in the end, that's the bottom line. Vote accordingly. That's our right in this great country!

58oldsfan.

What you say does not confer with information widely available:

In a letter to postal workers on August 13, 2020, DeJoy confirmed reports of delays in mail delivery, and called them “unintended consequences” of changes that eventually would improve service. At the same time that he was taking measures that postal workers and union officials said were slowing down mail delivery, President Trump told a TV interviewer that he himself was blocking funds for the postal service in order to hinder mail-in voting.

After congressional protests, the USPS inspector general began a review of DeJoy's policy changes and whether he was complying with federal ethics rules. On August 18, 2020, DeJoy announced that the Postal Service would suspend cost-cutting and other operational changes until after the 2020 election. He said that equipment that had already been removed would not be restored.

In September 2020, a court blocked the USPS from sending Colorado households a mailer with false and misleading information about vote-by-mail in Colorado. Secretaries of state had requested that DeJoy show them previews of the mailers that the USPS intended to send out, but that DeJoy refused.

Viewfield wrote:58oldsfan.

What you say does not confer with information widely available..

I concur. Start with this, and then move on to these.

Concerning the sorting machines that were turned off and that DeJoy refuses to put back in service:  They were taken out of service for one reason; to create a backlog and significantly slow the mail.  Were they obsolete? That applied term makes a good soundbyte for the evening news. It's political spin for what's been done. Those machines were all functioning as designed and well maintained.So, you run a factory that uses several functioning and well maintained machines to produce your product and several of them are old (you could use the term obsolete) do you remove them from the production line in hopes of someday getting new machines? Of course not, that would have a catastrophic effect on your manufacturing business. You wait until the new machines have arrived and your personnel have finished the factory training on the machines. You then use evening or weekend down time to bring the machines online.

There may be some minor problems as operating personnel find their groove using the new equipment but that will soon pass. Only someone with a death wish to severely damage company production would just shut down and or remove well maintained and functioning equipment before replacements were waiting to be installed and operators trained.  So everything else is spin (propaganda) to cover the presidents unwarranted desire to hobble the USPS and create voter exclusion.

This trumpian desire to hobble the USPS is working. Not only are critical medications and medical supplies delivered by the USPS suffering severe delays, and in some cases users having to pay significantly higher costs (for deliveries via third party package service) but today I almost had to spend three times as much to mail a package within the USA.

I had an item listed on and sold through ebay. When I listed the item, I used ebay's postage cost estimator to calculate the price via USPS. That price was $3.33 and was the price I put in the listing as the shipping cost. Today, the item sold. When I went to print a shipping label and pay for the postage, I was blocked from using any service other than United Parcel Service. There was a box with red ink stating that I had to use another service because of severe postal delays with the USPS. the cost was $8.88 via UPS. that nearly three times the cost I received and could have sent the package via USPS.

My choice was to void the sale and refund the sellers money or to write to the seller and ask for another $5.55 for the actual postage cost (via UPS) or to cancel and refund. The item I sold was for $5.50 cents, with the quoted shipping it was a final cost of $8.83. Now, trump and his minion DeJoy have caused me to have to ask the buyer for postage alone that costs 2 cents more than the whole deal would have been worth. What's the outcome? I have taken down my auction for the items I was selling as no one is going to pay $8.88 to receive a five dollar and fifty cent item. I also cancelled the sale in question and refunded the buyer. Neither the buyer nor I am happy. This issue has long reaching negative consequences that are going to be another very negative issue for trump and his minions.

Hi Jim,
You had me worried for a while. I just printed a couple of mailing labels one to a customer in Ohio and another in Indiana. The notice came up stating that
the post office is experiencing unusual delays etc. This notice has been popping up at least the past 6 weeks. However, all packages are being received in a
timely manner. It could be because I mailed them as USPS priority mail.
Charlie