Faulty USPS software cost trucking contractor $110 million and led to mass layoffs, company claims

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Economy

Faulty USPS software cost trucking contractor $110 million and led to mass layoffs, company claims

Postal Fleet Services says problems with the Postal Service’s mileage-tracking program are well known and central to lawsuits brought by truckers in three states.

By Jacob Bogage
Today at 9:34 a.m. EDT

A Florida trucking contractor contends the U.S. Postal Service’s reliance on software it knows to be faulty has shorted it $110 million in four years, forcing it to slash hundreds of jobs and opening it up to lawsuits in three states.

St. Augustine-based Postal Fleet Services, which has worked with the agency for nearly two decades, cited the proprietary mileage-tracking system in an ongoing payment dispute claim it filed with the agency. PFS’s corporate counsel Paul Waters told The Washington Post that the software is to blame for the driver disputes and subsequent lawsuits seeking class-action status in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Florida. More than 200 drivers — who allege they went unpaid for nearly two weeks in May before being laid off — have already signed on to at least two of the suits, according to attorneys arguing the cases.

The disputes come as the Postal Service is pivoting most of its mail handling from air to ground transportation, a strategy outlined in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year plan for the agency that will slow delivery rates. It also coincides with the agency’s efforts to fill thousands of truck driving jobs ahead of the peak holiday season.

{snip}

By Jacob Bogage
Jacob Bogage writes about business and technology for The Post, where he has worked since 2015. He previously covered the automotive and manufacturing industries and wrote for the Sports section. Twitter https://twitter.com/jacobbogage

Read more: link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/10/usps-software-trucking-layoffs/

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NEW: Faulty USPS software cost trucking contractor $110 million and led to mass layoffs, company claims

Link to tweet

[CurtEastPoint]

1. will the fuckstick at the top get the blame? DEJOY MUST GO NOW.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. The software was in use before he got there. NT

[sarchasm]

3. He's been there over a year and a half ...

... part of his plan, no doubt.

[PSPS]

4. Yes, but republicans deliberately crippled the board of governors after Bush

All of Obama's appointments to the board of governors were blocked by the senate. By 2016, there was only one member, meaning it couldn't do anything. Then trump came along and packed it with his donors.

[brush]

7. Which he should've fixed. He didn't. Get rid of him.

[Steelrolled]

12. Thanks for this info.

My guess is that this story is non-political.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. That's my guess too.

Thanks for being a part of the thread. Have a nice weekend.

[BlueIdaho]

5. DeJoy is incompetent

Why is he still there?

[groundloop]

8. DeJoy can only be ousted by the USPS Board of Governors.....

And right now there aren't enough votes on the board to get rid of him. Everyone assumed he'd be gone once President Biden named three new members to the board, which in theory would have given Democrats a majority. However, Ron Bloom is the chairman of the board, is supposedly a "Democrat" who served in the Obama administration, yet was appointed by 45* and has expressed his support for DeJoy. Until we gain another seat on the board, apparently, DeJoy stays.

One has to wonder what hold 45* has over Bloom.

[Me.]

9. Is It TFG Or Is It DeJoy?

“DeJoy bought up to $305,000 in bonds from USPS board chair’s investment firm
Board of Governors Chairman Ron Bloom, a managing partner at the firm, has backed DeJoy’s plans to slow mail delivery and raise prices”

“Between October and April, DeJoy purchased 11 bonds from Brookfield Asset Management each worth between $1,000 and $15,000, or $15,000 and $50,000, according to DeJoy’s financial disclosure paperwork. Ron Bloom, a Brookfield senior executive who manages the firm’s private equity division, has served on the postal board since 2019 and was elected its chairman in February.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/13/dejoy-usps-bloom-bonds-brookfield/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Here's the thread about that.

Fri Aug 13, 2021: DeJoy bought up to $305,000 in bonds from USPS board chair's investment firm

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Bloom is only there for a max "1-year 'holdover'" extension

(where his slot's term actually ended in December 2020), then he'll be out and someone else can be nominated for that slot. There is also a GOP member's slot that is up in December 2021 and a replacement for that one can happen as well.

And since one of Biden's 3 recently confirmed governors was listed as an "Independent" (who actually supports Democrats) vs being a registered "Democrat" or "Republican, and since the governance statute stipulates no more than 5 of the 9 governors be "from the same (registered) party", Biden could nominate 2 more Democrats for those upcoming vacancies to have a 5 (D) + 1 (I) + 3 (R) board of governors.

As a note, the (I) is Amber McReynolds. More on her - https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/amber-mcreynolds-vote-at-home-election/318427/ and https://time.com/5901694/amber-mcreynolds-vote-by-mail-2020-election/

[Champp]

6. Republicans so busy destroying the US Postal Service

They have screwed up our post office so badly -- what a waste they have made of things.

[uncle ray]

11. Flaw or feature?

[Snoopy 7]

15. Just get down to it

The facts are that as long as the "experts" (actually: rich doners/buisnessmen) are put in place they know what to do to make money for themselves and their boards. So, they initiate or ignore bad policy to make the money that keeps them in their position and then get other positions that, again, make them more money. Most boards are made up of the same people that sit on another corporations board, therefor they get richer as long as they make their masters more money...