My pal is a mail carrier in Portland. A few weeks ago the postmaster general ordered a normalized practice of overtime use to clear large amounts of mail from s

My pal is a mail carrier in Portland. A few weeks ago the postmaster general ordered a normalized practice of overtime use to clear large amounts of mail from some bins to cease. Regularly, employees would catch up on mail processing this way. Mail has been piling up ever since. From what my pal told us, didn’t make sense given how mail is handled but it is also not unusual for unexplained top down orders in USPS to be given. Questioning USPS management does not make you a valued team member—-most people are focused on making sure their vacation time gets granted or trying to get successful bids for new routes or workflows. From many stories about the workings of USPS, it sounds to me like there are widespread inefficiencies in the post office. (And as an aside, there are definitely USPS employees that would not have jobs without the powerful union that keeps them there. Stuff that never would be forgiven in private enterprise happens all of the time.) However, this sudden action from the PM general is not the way to bring about change, it is just causing an organization with a lot of operational debt to redline.