Mailbox usps Offline#

In Ashland, Massachusetts, four boxes in the post office went offline when the building closed after mold was discovered in the basement. Reporters found boxes had been removed on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Broadway in New York City and on 10 Mile Road in Southfield, Michigan. Reporters across the USA TODAY Network checked on 271 of those boxes in 20 states and confirmed that 186 were not there. On average, from 2010 through 2019, the Postal Service reports it removed 3,258 drop boxes a year. But between a pandemic, a presidential election and a president who is fanning the flames of suspicion that he’s sabotaging the Postal Service to suppress mail-in voting, Americans are now paying close attention to every cut the post office makes. The blue boxes have been disappearing for decades.

In the meantime, across the United States, missing mailboxes had become a political hot button. They didn’t return until Aug. 21, the same day Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified to a Senate committee about postal cuts. In all, more than 30 mailboxes disappeared from the city’s streets that day. In front of the offices of the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, a reporter asked the worker why he was taking the boxes. Protests after George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer had taken a destructive turn the night before. postal worker rolled through downtown Columbus, Ohio, in late May, stopping to hoist iconic blue mailboxes onto a flatbed truck. A total of 3,215 ballots had been cast by Amazon workers.A U.S. At the end of Thursday, over two thirds of counted votes were against the union: No votes outnumbered yes votes by 1,100 to 463. Vote tallying is currently underway and will continue Friday. “This mailbox-which only the USPS had access to-was a simple, secure, and completely optional way to make it easy for employees to vote, no more and no less.”ĭavid Partenheimer, a spokesperson for the Postal Service, told Fortune that “the box that was installed – a Centralized Box Unit (CBU) with a collection compartment – was suggested by the Postal Service as a solution to provide an efficient and secure delivery and collection point,” and that he had no further comment. The RWDSU fought those at every turn and pushed for a mail-only election, which the NLRB’s own data showed would reduce turnout,” said Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti. “We said from the beginning that we wanted all employees to vote and proposed many different options to try and make it easy. “The facts that have come out so far certainly raise suspicion of a labor law violation,” she said.Īmazon told Fortune in a statement that only USPS had access to the box and that it was intended to make the vote easier for employees.

“The timing and urgency of Amazon’s request to USPS, and the nature of the communications with employees about using that mailbox, mean that there is a potential violation of labor law,” Kate Griffith, chair of the department of labor relations, law, and history at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told Fortune. The NLRB had already explicitly denied a request by Amazon to host in-person voting on their premises. “Vote now! BE DONE BY 3/1!” Workers had until March 29 to vote.

“Voting has begun! The US Postal Service has installed a secure mailbox just outside the BHM1 main entrance, making mailing your ballot easy, safe, and convenient,” it read. In the emails, Linda Mercer, a strategic account manager for USPS, wrote to Michael Mann, manager of delivery and customer service programs, that “, at Amazon HQ would like to kept in the loop…” showing the extent of Amazon’s involvement in the project.Īfter the box was installed, Amazon sent a text message to workers urging them to vote against the union and to use the mailbox outside of their facilities-where Amazon surveillance cameras were trained.