ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The head of the local postal workers union says the changes being implemented by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are slowing the mail, but she's confident it will not cause major problems with the November election.
And customers are noticing. "We're getting reports from our clerks saying that customers are upset."
When it comes to the election, Livingston says political mail is given priority. "These are going to be treated like first-class pieces of mail and sent through. I feel very sure that we can take care of it." But she has a message for those who plan to vote by mail, "What we're going to make sure people understand is, please, when you get it, turn it around and get it back in the mail stream."
Livingston says the union doesn't have a definitive stand on whether the changes are designed to justify privatization of the postal service, but she has her suspicions. "We just feel like these are the steps that are going into place to make us not be as successful. As these things happen and customers don't get mail for two or three days, (people say) 'it's the postal service.' It's not the employees, it's structuring and the plans that have been put in place."