USPS is taking orders for COVID-19 test kits

The U.S. Postal Service urges you to stick it up your nose, for free:

“The U.S. Postal Service has begun taking orders for at-home coronavirus test kits.

The website [is] COVIDtests.gov….  (Click here to see how many users are on the test kit site.)

Each household order will contain four rapid tests, which the Postal Service says will be shipped for free ‘in late January.’

Some on Twitter reported problems with orders from residents of apartment buildings with multiple units being told that someone from that household had already ordered the tests.”

“The White House says it will prioritize shipments to Americans from ZIP codes that have experienced high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths, with the first 20% of each day’s orders going to those areas.”

“There will also be a phone number so those without access to computers or high-speed internet can place orders.”

— “The Postal Service is now taking orders for COVID-19 test kits,” Brian Naylor, NPR News

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USPS to Deliver 500 Million Home COVID Test Kits

After White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pooh-poohed the idea of mailing COVID rapid test kits to all American households and a torrent of angry criticism followed, the Biden administration is doing just that. Thank you, Jen Psaki.

There are logistical hurdles to sending out test kits besides the expense of purchasing and delivering them, however. Instead of simply mailing kits to every U.S. houshold identified by the 2020 Census or making them availible at local pharmacies or public locations, the administration is setting up a website where people must request the kits. That didn’t work so well at the beginning of Obamacare, and there’s no reason to think the rollout will be any less rocky this time.

More:

“Anger at Jen Psaki Helped Americans Get Free Covid Rapid Tests,” Robert Mackey, The Intercept

“White House making final touches for plan to mail 500 million COVID test kits: report,” Mike Murphy, MarketWatch

“White House, USPS finalizing plans to begin shipping coronavirus test kits to U.S. households,” Jacob Bogage and Dan Diamond, Washington Post

Update:

“At-home COVID tests will be covered by insurance starting Saturday: Coronavirus Updates,” Jonathan Franklin, NPR

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Trump-Throttled Post Office May Disenfranchise American Troops

Georgia voters in the military and citizens living overseas are concerned that their mail-in ballots won’t get delivered in time to be counted in the January 5th senatorial runoff elections. The resource-starved U.S. Postal Service is reeling from Louis DeJoy’s cutbacks, COVID-19 staff outages, and after-effects and backlogs of the Christmas rush. USPS has pledged to fast-track election mail, but on-time mail deliveries in the Atlanta area were as low as 54% a few weeks ago. Ballots must arrive by 7:00 PM today to be valid. Results of the contest may determine control of the U.S. Senate.

More:

“USPS delays could hit Georgia military, overseas ballots,” Hannah Denham and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post

 

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Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and lengTrump-Throttled Post Office Disenfranchises American Troops. Again.th.

USPS Was Ready for COVID-19 In April. Trump Was Not.

In April, as the coronavirus pandemic was killing thousands of Americans, the United States Postal Service planned to distribute 650 million masks, five per U.S. household. and even drafted a press release. about it. The White House knew of the COVID-19 threat but was still “downplaying” it, and blocked the plan. Thousands more died.

More:

“White House reportedly scrapped plan to send masks to every American because it wanted to avoid ‘panic,'” Kathryn Krawczyk, The Week

“Newly revealed USPS documents show an agency struggling to manage Trump, Amazon and the pandemic,” Tony Romm, Jacob Bogage and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post

“Of Course Trump Nixed a Masks Plan That Could’ve Eradicated COVID-19 in April,” Bess Levin, Vanity Fair

Update:

“Trump administration scrapped plan to send every American a mask in April, email shows,” Laura Strickler and Geoff Bennett, NBC News

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Postmaster General Doesn’t Know What It Costs To Mail A Postcard

At a House Oversight Committee meeting on Monday, Rep. Katie Porter (D, CA-45) asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy what it costs to mail a postcard:

“‘I don’t know,’ he said.

When a surprised Porter shot back, ‘you don’t know the cost to mail a postcard,’ DeJoy laughed and confirmed, ‘I don’t.’ As Porter continued to ask some pricing questions, DeJoy admitted, ‘I know very little about postage stamps.’ He also said he doesn’t know the starting rate for USPS priority mail, and he couldn’t estimate how many people voted by mail in the last presidential election.”

— “Postmaster general admits he doesn’t know what it costs to mail a postcard,” Brendan Morrow, The Week

Someone please tell Mr. DeJoy that postcards mail for 35 cents.

More:

“Katie Porter Reveals Just How Little Louis DeJoy Knows About the Mail,” Abigail Weinberg, Mother Jones

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Voting By Mail, 2020

Americans have been voting by mail since the Civil War, and faith in the postal system has buttressed our faith in democracy. The U.S. Postal Service has efficiently delivered billions of cards, letters and packages every Christmas season, but the last few months have seen an erosion of some of the resources that have made that possible. Many more Americans are expected to vote by mail this year due to the pandemic, and they’ll need to request ballot forms and mail in their ballots as soon as possible to insure their participation in the 2020 election.

Help your friends who’ll be away from home or have health concerns to vote by mail by sending them reminder postcards (sample text for a North Carolina voter living in DC is provided above). Do it real soon, because someone is delaying the mail.

What should the front of the postcard look like? Maybe something like this:

The U.S. Postal Service Is Logging Your Mail

Snail Mail surveillance is lots older than PRISM, but it’s now computerized through the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program. Postal Service computers photograph all the 160 billion envelopes processed in the USA each year. Law enforcement agents don’t need a judge’s approval to request this information.

More:

“U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement,” Ron Nixon, New York Times

“USPS Procedures: Mail Cover Requests,” Postal Inspection Service via NYT

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Is The Post Office Really Broke?

The U.S. Postal Service is broke, right?

No.

John Nichols explains:

“At the behest of the Republican-controlled Congress of the Bush-Cheney era, the USPS has been forced since 2006 to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. As the American Postal Workers Union notes, ‘This mandate is the primary cause of the agency’s financial crisis. No other government agency or private company bears this burden, which costs the USPS approximately $5.5 billion annually.’”

–John Nichols, “The Post Office is Not Broke,” The Nation

USPS is legally obligated to serve every location in the United States at the same uniform rate. That requires the Post Office to hire so many workers that, with 574,000 full-time employees,  it is the second largest civilian employer in the nation.  That’s the size of the insurance pool USPS must pre-fund every year.

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