The stimulus package was signed into law on Sunday and, as PostCom reported, includes a provision that converts $10 billion in borrowing authority for the Postal Service to a “grant” that will not require prepayment if used to offset impacts of the pandemic.
As Postal Reporter reported, the $10 billion line of credit had been enacted as part of the CARES Act in March. It also pointed to a statement from the National Postal Mail Handlers Union that said while providing relief to the USPS, it may fall short of what is needed. “In April, the USPS Board of Governors requested $25 billion in emergency funding to help combat revenue loss due to the pandemic,” the Union said.
The Postal Service issued the following statement from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about the legislation on Wednesday:
“On behalf of the 644,000 men and women of the Postal Service, I want to thank Congress and the Administration for recognizing both the essential role we play in serving the nation and the impact of COVID-19 on our operations. We will continue to work with Secretary Mnuchin and the Treasury Department to execute on converting the $10 billion borrowing authority to funding that we need as a result of the pandemic for operating expenses.”
$10M is a drop in the bucket. The USPS needs a complete overhaul. That whole Stimulus bill is a joke. The wrangling and the jostling over 8 months is an insult to the American people and shows just how broken our system is. If this was a 9/11 incident, the money would be in the treasury ready to spend. There would be no arguments.
10 billion PLUS the surcharges for holiday shipping, which they should return, I still have packages sitting in sorting centers from the beginning of December, another rate increase on the 24th. Just gonna price themselves and small seller right out business
Maybe if they actually picked up the scheduled shipments like they are supposed to they might actually stop losing business. Its absolutely ridiculous when a person has to call the local PO at almost 7 pm to let them know that once again one of their trainees doesn’t seem to know how to look at a piece of paper that gives them the address where they should look for a pickup.
I guess we are back to the days of no incoming mail means the carrier does not have to even look at your mailbox to see if you have any outgoing items. Went through this with the local PO about 5 years ago and finally had to start daily online complaints through their website and threaten a lawsuit for violation of ADA. That got their attention and also got the local Postmaster either fired or transferred to another location, although I am not sure their is a worse one than where he was already working. I guess that is to be expected now that the route I live on is considered a training route and the trainees seem to feel they do not have to follow the USPS policies.