GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has scrapped one of West Michigan’s four flat mail sorters because the volume of catalog and magazine mail is down, according to union representitives.
The remains of the massive machine, which has five feed stations and sorts thousands of catalogs and magazines every day, were dropped off at the USPS facility on Patterson Avenue in Kentwood on Wednesday, August 19th.
These machines are important pieces of equipment that are used to speed up the process of mail delivery. News of the machines being scrapped and switched off comes as concerns have been raised about recent cuts and changes at the USPS ahead of the November general election.
“They took out a fully functioning flat sorting machine,” said Jim Haggarty, president of the Michigan chapter of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union.
“They say it’s because the mail volume is down … If things started to normalize, that mail could go back up.”
Haggarty said that, if necessary, flat post sorters could also sort absent moods.
The machine is just one of at least several functional post-sorting machines in the Grand Rapids area that will be separated this week by USPS officials.
Amy Puhalski, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 281, told the Holland Sentinel on Wednesday that USPS officials this week removed the electrical components from two mail sorting machines in downtown Grand Rapids.
Puhalski said the machines sorted letters and that their removal would delay the processing time of mail.
She said the machines were unusable without the components and that officials had not given a word to put them back in place.
Officials were working on throwing a third machine, she said, but stopped after U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday ordered a halt to scraping equipment and other organizational changes until after the election.
Related: Snail mail and a ‘pinky promise’: Why Michigan still sues after USPS changes came back
Reducing the number of mail sorters as well as mail drop boxes are initiatives that DeJoy has marketed as cost-cutting measures.
They have raised concerns about voter oppression in the upcoming general election, where absenteeism is expected to skyrocket due to the pandemic.
DeJoy said on Tuesday that he would suspend the measures until after the general election “to prevent even the appearance of influence on election post.”
“I have no other information to share above what is stated in our Postmaster General’s statement,” said Sabrina Todd, spokeswoman for USPS, Grand Rapids Area, and declined to comment on the machines.
Michigan is cooperating with other states in filing a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service over recent changes that have caused mail delays, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.
Besibbe: Michigan joins lawsuit against USPS over mail delays
USPS engineer Jeffrey Werth was at the Wednedsay site near the Patterson Avenue facility on Wednesday and was overseeing the flat sorting machine that was being scraped.
‘The only thing I will say is that it is not what has been proposed. It’s an exaggeration, “Werth told MLive. “I really suggest you contact our public relations department.”
He declined to say what the machine was or whether it was functional before it was thrown.
“You don’t have to be on public property,” Werth said. “I’ll have to ask you right now.”
Removing the machines is the ultimate challenge for postal workers trying to get time on email.
In addition to pandemic-related challenges, recent cuts to overtime have threatened employment even fewer workers from before the Great Recession, Haggarty said.
“They set us up to fail,” he said. ‘Even the supervisors and the managers are frustrated. The people like me who are about 20, 25, 30 years old are very worried about us because we are seeing the degradation of our service. ”
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