DEAR EDITOR:

President Trump’s postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, is forcing serious delays in the delivery of mail.

Ostensibly, these moves are cost-saving measures. But it doesn’t take a cynic to understand how this disruption could affect voting in November’s election. The president himself has said he hopes as much.

In my 20 years at the service, postal employees have fostered a culture of never delaying the mail. Our unofficial mantra is “mail that comes in today, goes out today — no matter what.”

We are now being told to ignore that. If mail can’t get delivered or processed without overtime, it is supposed to sit and wait.

For example, letter carriers normally split up the route of a colleague who’s out sick. These carriers each take a portion of the absent employee’s route after completing their own, often using a little overtime. Now, that mail doesn’t get delivered until later.

Or, think about mail that arrives late in the day. Before, that mail would be processed for the next day’s delivery, even if that required overtime. Today, that mail sits in the plant at least until the following evening — or longer, if it’s a holiday weekend.

In the plants, meanwhile, the short staffing of clerks means it takes longer to get all the mail through the sorting machines. And under orders from DeJoy, mail processing equipment is being scrapped.

Even though the processing takes longer, drivers aren’t allowed to wait on it. They’re being disciplined for missing their departure time even by a few minutes — even if they haven’t gotten all the mail they’re supposed to haul!

With package deliveries up by 50 percent during the pandemic, as the Institute for Policy Studies reports, mail trucks are often already full. Imagine how much mail will get left behind when that’s combined with seasonal holiday mail, or absentee ballots.

Finally, DeJoy’s proposals to cut hours of operation at many smaller post offices — and the removal of many public mailboxes — will make it harder for the public to access postal services. When you limit hours to 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and close on Saturdays, you eliminate access for anybody working the day shift.

Postal workers have been doing their best to keep the nation’s mail and packages moving in these difficult and hazardous times. We don’t deserve these attacks.

DeJoy now says he’ll delay more changes until after the election, but that’s not enough. Congress must approve crisis relief for USPS and reverse DeJoy’s disastrous service cuts altogether.

JAMES E. VARNER

American Postal Workers Union Local 443, Youngstown