I was having my once a week FaceTime meeting with my 6 year old grandson in Maryland. He is a very bright, beautiful child. Am I biased? Naaah...
Since he's in 1st grade (and I'm a retired 1st grade teacher), my son said I could do some enrichment work with him so we've been working on phonics, fractions, time, adding and subtraction, etc. I also read a lot of books to him which he loves. He's even asked me to hold the book closer so he could read it to me. 😁
I burst out laughing when he sadly replied, "No, I didn't get it. The Republicans are slowing the mail."
Why is Louis DeJoy STILL the postmaster general? Unfortunately, President Biden can't fire him. The only people who can is the Board of Governors who were mostly appointed by Trump. Ever since DeJoy has been in that position, mail has suddenly slowed down and become more expensive. He's also a major Republican Party donor and fundraiser and never had any experience in the US postal service.
The USPS has now raised the rates of postal service in time for the holidays and no longer provides mail service to Australia. Really? Why Australia? Thank goodness I don't have relatives there. If I did, I'd be really ticked.
My daughter in Illinois sent me a photo of a card I sent her on September 9th. It had gotten to her on October 25th. You have got to be kidding!
Dang! So I really do have to start getting a flat rate box started for Christmas! Ack!
POSTSCRIPT:
I just checked what Blogger Ed of Iowa told me. Thank you, Ed!
https://blog.stamps.com/2021/09/02/usps-service-suspension-to-australia/amp/
So it’s just first class mail to Australia that is suspended. You can still send by priority mail. Not sure of the difference though. And it’s due to COVID? I do really appreciate getting input from bloggers so we all get current and correct information.
That was a nice read about your grandson Kate, but BOY IS YOUR SON EXACTLY RIGHT. It's a real shame we're still being held hostage by one of Trump's henchmen. PS I got a birthday card from my aunt yesterday, I called and thanked her, she said "What do you MEAN you just got it?!" (My birthday was Halloween, she mailed it the Wednesday before.)
ReplyDeletePS. Kay, sorry for calling you Kate! I got up too early this morning :^(
ReplyDeleteActually, I had another very dear older friend who used to always call me Kate. She has since passed away. I never corrected her because I liked being called that. You’ve reminded me of her and gave me a smile this morning.
DeleteHaha thank you Kay, but I really am very sorry, I should've waited until I had my morning coffee at least. I just got so fired up when I saw DeJoy's name here! That was a deliberate act of sabotage and he should be in prison! I am up to HERE with all these damn Republicans walking free!
DeleteEver since granddaughter #3 moved to Buffalo I've been doing FaceTime storytime with her though of late not as often.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to avoid sending anything as a package through the mails if I can.
That really explains why shops are having Christmas items already out!
ReplyDeleteThe USPS only suspended Priority Mail to Australia (you can use other slower forms without a problem) and that was because of a lack of carriers on THEIR end due to Covid. The same thing has happened to many countries the last year and a half including the Philippines which we regularly send mail too. I can't believe this is being labeled some Republican conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of DeJoy and think he shouldn't be in that job, but at the end of the day, I think mailing a letter anywhere in the U.S. for just over a half dollar (not sure what the current rate is) and just over a dollar for anywhere on the globe is a steal. I would pay many times more, gladly.
I just checked what you said. You’re right!
Deletehttps://blog.stamps.com/2021/09/02/usps-service-suspension-to-australia/amp/
So it’s just first class mail that is suspended. You can still send by priority mail. Not sure of the difference though. And it’s due to COVID?
Hi Kay: when DeJoy made some announcements about changes (Trump Administration, it was a while back), people protested in front of his NC residence. It made the news. However, he was likely out of state at the time. The local post delivery folks were not too pleased either. Apparently it caused a lot of issues with mail not showing up to be sorted then multiple days being dumped at one time. I had a mail delivery one night just after 9pm. Thought someone was messing with my car! New managers always have to find a way to put-their-stamp on an organization, even if the work is flowing, the workers have a plan and know how to execute it. Yes change is hard, but change for the better not just because 'I am new and I need to make changes'.
ReplyDeleteM in NC
I shall start thinking of things to mail now to my children and grandchildren in Illinois and Maryland. If I start now, maybe it’ll get there in time.
DeleteYou are a good grandma with such a smart grandson six already!
ReplyDeleteit is ridiculous....time to return to the pony express they were faster and probably cheaper...lol!
ReplyDeleteJD's comment was spot on. I was wondering why DeJoy still had a job. I thought Trump only put him in to slow down mail in ballots. Didn't know he would be hard to remove. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteDeJoy needs some prison time
ReplyDeleteYes, my birthday card took 6 weeks to get here from Chicago. Now I know why it took all that time.
ReplyDeleteStandard Republican modus operandi. Their ideology maintains that government is bad and inefficient, so when they get in power, they screw up the workings of government to make the prophecy a self-fulfilling one.
ReplyDeleteThey've always had a vendetta against the Postal Service because it's one of the most successful and popular government programs. They can't get rid of it, though. The Postal Service is in the Constitution, so we have to have it.
Yes, you do. Here we used to get our mail before lunch. Now we get it around 5 or 6 in the late afternoon. I won't tell you what G says about this. He does pick up the mail now one day late.
ReplyDeleteJD's comment about the Republicans slowing the mail cracked me up. He is indeed a bright boy.
ReplyDeleteJD is right and it is unconscionable. It took a friend three weeks to get her birthday card. She lives 30 minutes away from me.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of nonsense is unacceptable, but not surprising given the current state of the GOP.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the old "book rate" would be faster, after all, in Australia, it is the day before our day. Maybe their sloths are substituting for their letter carriers. That's really neat how you're working with your Maryland grandson! So, do you regularly send the newspaper comics to your kids? My Mom sent me the entire color comic section from the Oklahoma City Sunday newspapers for years, and sent them to my son when he was in college. Now, Heaven doesn't have direct mail at all. And other city's Sunday papers don't have a big comic section. Poo hoo. (Though, I always thought it was an interesting reflection on the IQ level of the town, when their comic section was 8-16 pages!) Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI text the full page of comics to my daughter, but I clip out (appropriate) comics for JD and send them by snail mail. There's really not a whole lot of comics that I think he would enjoy.
DeleteGood to get an explanation about mail to Australia. The topic came up at breakfast this morning and none of us knew why.
ReplyDeleteBiden's appointments to the Postal Service Board of Governors have been approved. I don't know why we still have DeJoy.
So sweet to be in touch with your grandson and reading to him. As for the mail it's all very frustrating! I feel sorry for the postal workers who have to deal with disgruntled customers and whose hours are now all over the place.
ReplyDeleteMy mom sent me a registered letter from the US on Sept 20th, and then it disappeared from the tracking system until a month later when it somehow got processed in the UK! (I'm in Canada.) It finally arrived a week or two after that...well, I hope it enjoyed its trip overseas, at least someone gets to travel :)
ReplyDeleteIt is true that Trump has a legacy. A horrid one, for Americans.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely having a Facetime with your grandie!
Maybe parcels should be sent via Amazon this time around. I know it's not the personal touch, but maybe it will meet the need.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of rot left behind. We can only hope that since many are sell-outs to the core; perhaps they will reflect more progressive, honest administrations. It is tiresome how Trump can't stop his poison.
ReplyDeleteI too wish we could get rid of DeJoy. He has been a disaster in mail delivery. Surely soon we can ditch him.
ReplyDelete