WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The facility that processes mail from most of Vermont and western New Hampshire has been operating since July with only one letter-canceling machine, instead of the two it has long had, and a promised replacement has been delayed until January.
Vermont’s congressional delegation has sent a letter to the postmaster general, calling on him to install a newer machine sooner, both to aid in the processing of ballots before Election Day and to handle the expected rush of holiday mail.
“Waiting until 2021 to get this new machine to Vermont will present undue harm to the hundreds of thousands of Vermonters who have been given the ability to vote by mail by November 3rd as well as Vermont’s seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who rely on the Postal Service for the delivery of their prescriptions,” reads the letter, which was signed by Rep. Peter Welch and Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders.
The delegation demanded that the Postal Service deliver and install an updated mail cancellation machine immediately.
For the past several years, the Postal Service has been talking about replacing one of the two “legacy” cancellation machines at the White River Junction plant, Scott Lasell, president of the facility’s branch of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 301, which is headquartered in Natick, Mass., said in a phone interview.
It wasn’t until July that one of the units was removed and a newer unit promised.
Installation was delayed and delayed until on Oct. 5, plant workers learned that it would be delayed until January. The reasons for the delay have not been made clear, Lasell said.
“This comes from outside White River Junction,” he said.
Lasell has been at the Sykes Mountain Avenue plant for 30 years. He said he couldn’t recall exactly when the current cancellation machines were installed. Workers used to run both machines every night, as the plant processed mail from post offices. Lately, with the decline in mail volume, one machine has been enough to get the mail sorted most of the time, with the mail handlers pressing the second machine into service as needed, and using one machine while the other was being serviced.
“The mail business is tricky, just because you never know what you’re going to get on any given day,” Lasell said.
Taking away one of the machines has left the plant susceptible to breakdowns, and a week and a half ago, a failed bearing shut down the remaining machine for 45 minutes, which caused a delay in processing, Lasell said. The plant has an excellent maintenance department and keeps the machine running well, but as it ages and parts become unavailable, repairing it becomes more of a challenge, he said.
The mail-handling plant operates 24 hours a day year-round, but its letter cancellation machine typically runs only at night. Packages and oversize letters are sorted and canceled by hand; the machine handles all other mail, placing a cancellation mark over the stamp.
So far, the volume of mail has not been a problem, Lasell said, including sorting and sending out ballots. But it is a problem waiting to happen, which is why he’s been in touch with the congressional offices since the summer.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy implemented measures over the summer that delayed delivery of 350 million pieces of first class mail, about 7% of the volume, over the five weeks the measures were in place, according to a report released last month by the office of U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Senate Democrat with oversight of the Postal Service.
President Donald Trump’s appointment of DeJoy in May and the subsequent removal of machines from mail-sorting facilities have led to concerns that the administration is hoping to slow the delivery of ballots during an election that will rely more heavily on mailed votes because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Vermont delegation’s letter called the maneuverings in White River Junction “another example of this administration’s attempt to sabotage the Postal Service and the 2020 election.”
DeJoy has said operational changes are needed because of the Postal Service’s financial challenges.
Secretary of State Jim Condos, who oversees Vermont elections, told VtDigger that he had not been made aware of the equipment removal or sorting issues at the White River Junction facility.
“I really can’t comment without more information other than to say that it would be disappointing if true,” Condos said in a statement.
“We have been assured by the USPS that Vermont election mail would be handled as a high priority, and we expect that to happen. The USPS has a responsibility to ensure mail is delivered in a timely fashion, especially for an election being conducted during a pandemic.”
Condos said he joined the call of the congressional delegation “to properly resource our hardworking VT USPS staff so that they can accomplish their jobs effectively and efficiently.”
This isn’t the first time the White River Junction mail-sorting operation has been threatened. Vermont leaders rallied around it when the Postal Service announced plans to close it down in 2012. At the time, the plant had 245 workers. It now employs 38 mail handlers and another 60 to 65 clerks, who also sort mail and are represented by a separate union, Lasell said. Each group is short by about 10 people, he added.
The promised newer cancellation machine “could still help us with the holiday season,” Lasell said.
Asked for comment on the letter from the Vermont lawmakers, Stephen Doherty, a Boston-based spokesman for the Postal Service, said via email: “We have seen the letter from the congressional offices and are looking into their request. Once a decision is made we will be replying to them directly.”
Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.
