Local mail carriers say the existing operation puts their health at risk. They say USPS’ true priority is a company you might think to be their competitor, but is actually a major client: Amazon.
Piles and piles of Amazon packages nearly touch the ceiling in the Deer Park and Cheney post offices. Current employees, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, are being told to move mountains of mail.
“We have a threshold in the office and Amazon doesn’t adhere to that at all,” one employee said. “We’re supposed to get three pallets, and we’ve gotten 14 pallets some days from them. It’s the bullying and the way that they just keep on you and keep on you to just do more, do more, do more.”
“We’ve been expanding, hiring, hiring, hiring. We’re doing everything we can to hire to the work. It’s obvious that we need more people and we continue to hire,” said David Rupert, Manager of WestPac Area Corporate Communications for USPS.
Rueprt says USPS is growing, expanding and morphing as the marketplace changes.
The marketplace now includes competitors like FedEx, UPS and Amazon. The same Amazon that is a client of the Postal Service and that employees say has created their tipping point.