
Stop Panicking about the Post Office - midef
https://medium.com/@nharpermn/stop-panicking-about-the-post-office-8bcd689b9601
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ncmncm
There is no panic about the (US) Post Office. The agency is under concerted
attack by the President's men, and has already suffered serious damage. The
President has explained in detail that a well-operating Post Office would
prevent his re-election by delivering mail-in ballots favoring his opponent,
and has acted to stop it.

~~~
Fjolsvith
Because the US Post Office couldn't handle even a Christmas rush of cards and
packages. One ballot per person per year will absolutely crash that system.

~~~
shadowgovt
That's the sort of thing that one would assume would create a news cycle, if
the USPS failed to handle holiday shipping.

Chewing back through the archives of 2019 news, I don't see such a news cycle,
or really anyone complaining about extraordinary delays. I do see that the
Post Office did an unusual amount of gearing up because the distance between
Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2019 shortened the peak shipping window
([https://www.marketplace.org/2019/12/05/six-fewer-shipping-
da...](https://www.marketplace.org/2019/12/05/six-fewer-shipping-days-till-
christmas-puts-pressure-on-ups-fedex-and-usps/)). But they appear to have
handled it fine.

Here's their self-reported tracking metrics through 2019 Q4 on package
delivery ([https://about.usps.com/what/performance/service-
performance/...](https://about.usps.com/what/performance/service-
performance/fy2020-q1-package-services-quarterly-performance.html)). No real
deviation from their regular numbers indicating a performance drop.

What's our source on the notion that they got crushed by Christmas rush?

~~~
Fjolsvith
It was sarcasm. My point being if they can handle the Christmas rush, they can
handle an extra ballot per person once a year.

However, I suspect that the "USPS needs funding" narrative was stoked so
congress would provide funds to make sure the blockchain voting system the
USPS is implementing runs smooth.

~~~
ncmncm
Sarcasm is against the HN CoC.

We have yet to see whether, in its damaged condition, it could still handle
the Christmas rush. With sorting machines unplugged and shipped off to
warehouses or scrapped, with employees forbidden overtime to handle
fluctuations, with hiring frozen, it is far from certain it can still handle
votes. That is by design.

~~~
Fjolsvith
Sorry, I forgot the "/s" at the end.

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vitalychernobyl
Can anyone with real knowledge of the subject corroborate or dispute this?
Genuinely interested. The article makes a lot of sense, and if true, disputes
the popular narrative. But there is a big "if" and I am not qualified to know
if this is true (hopefully) or just really well crafted to hide the truth.

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gnusty_gnurc
But that would require disengaging the 24/7 chicken little fear narrative.

