The USPS has had a history of budget deficits dating back to a 2006 law requiring it to prepay retiree health benefits 75 years in advance, a provision to which no other government agency or private corporation is subject.
[9] According to Tom Davis (the bill's sponsor), the Bush administration threatened to veto the legislation unless they added the provision regarding funding the employee benefits in advance with the objective of using that money to reduce the federal deficit.
[10] The agency's struggles were compounded by the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and subsequent recession, which caused overall mail volume to fall by one-third, and again by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects.
[8] Louis DeJoy was sworn in as postmaster general on June 15, 2020; he is the first person since 1992 to assume the position without any previous experience in the United States Postal Service.
"[18] He said he would reinstate overtime hours, roll back service reductions, and halt the removal of mail sorting machines and collection boxes.
[22] The Postal Service inspector general has opened an investigation into the changes made by DeJoy, including any possible conflicts of interest stemming from his $30 million ownership stake in XPO Logistics, which processes mail for the USPS.
"[29] U.S. representative Bill Pascrell requested the New Jersey attorney general to empanel a grand jury to investigate whether any state election laws were violated; the AG declined comment.
"[26] A number of individuals, including candidates for public office, have filed lawsuits in federal court against the Postal Service[17] Questions have been raised by observers and journalists about a possible conflict of interest involving DeJoy's connections to XPO Logistics.
[30] On November 4, 2020, federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered DeJoy to ″sweep″ USPS facilities for undelivered mail-in ballots, and to immediately deliver any they find.
[43][44][45][46] A March 2021 report from the Postal Service's inspector general found that the vast majority of mail-in ballots and registration materials in the 2020 election were delivered to the relevant authorities on time.
[51] Individuals are also reporting serious economic problems due to delayed or missing mail: not receiving checks or important papers that they are expecting, or having their bill payments arrive at the company late so that they are charged a penalty.
[56] Some postal workers, aiming to prevent adverse effects on the election and on customer service, resisted the changes ordered by DeJoy.
Asked in August 2020 whether he believed DeJoy was attempting "to sabotage the election by making cuts that slow down the flow of mail," Dimondstein said: "I can't really judge the motivation.
[62][63] She proposed an early vote on a bill to roll back the changes introduced by DeJoy, which Democrats have described as "a grave threat to the integrity of the election.
[73] On August 22, 2020, the House passed a bill approving $25 billion in emergency funding for the USPS that would reverse DeJoy's changes and ban mail delays before the election.
[77][78] Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, was denied access to two post offices in Florida when she tried to conduct an inspection on September 3.
[81] USPS facilities became overwhelmed with packages: A supervisor at an Indianapolis distribution center reported that for the sake of expediency, workers were "just throwing [packages] in the trucks without scanning them" into the system;[82] in Allentown, Pennsylvania, mail pieces sat in the parking lot because there was no room to unload them, and a clerk in Philadelphia told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Don’t be using the post office right now, because we can’t deliver the mail".
[83] In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, a postal clerk in Linthicum, Maryland, summed up the situation as a “logistical nightmare," and added that USPS should have known based on the events of the preceding year there would be a holiday shipping crisis, but despite this failed to warn customers.
[84] A postal worker who anonymously spoke to the Washington Post summed it up, "“As bad as you think it is, it’s worse.” [85] Late in December, USPS acknowledged the delays on its website citing COVID-19 issues and a labor shortage and encouraging early mailing of packages, but for many with packages already trapped at distribution centers across the country it was expected to be too late to make a difference.