WEBVTT	#Elemental Media Engine(TM) 2.17.0.603052

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You know, since 2001, the volume

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of first class mail passing

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through our post offices has

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dropped by 47 percent.

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So reevaluating the system

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is a legitimate topic of

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conversation.

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However, in the last few months,

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Americans have begun to see lags

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in their mail delivery and postal

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workers have reported sorting

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machines powered down, removed.

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Local mailboxes, too.

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Times reporters Laura Nelson and

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Maya Lau shared what they've learned

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about the U.S.

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Postal Service.

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Hi, guys. Nice to see you.

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Hi, thanks for having us.

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Hey, Laura, do us a favor.

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I'm sure most people know this, but

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just if you can briefly tell

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us what's going on at the post

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office and the new man in charge.

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Sure. So there is a new postmaster

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general. His name is Louis DeJoy.

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He took office about 70

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days ago.

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He is a President Trump appointee

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and a big Republican donor

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and fundraiser.

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Before he was the postmaster

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general, he was a logistics

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executive for more than three

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decades, including at a company

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called XPO Logistics, which is

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like one of the biggest carriers

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in the United States.

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And the post office was already

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reeling from some of the effects of

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COVID 19.

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Some postal locations were seeing

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staffing shortages as people stayed

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home to take care of kids or got

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sick.

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And on top of that, there were some

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changes that were imposed this

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summer after the postmaster general

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took office that have had an effect

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on some mail delivery and processing

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times.

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And, Laura, the Democrats attribute

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this to sort of nefarious

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plot, if you will.

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That's right. So it became a very

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polarized issue.

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In hearings on Capitol Hill, both in

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the House and in the Senate, there

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was a lot of political grandstanding

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from both sides talking about, on

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the Republican side, the idea that

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the post office loses money every

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year, that the postal service is

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kind of a failing institution

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financially.

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On the Democratic side, that

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these changes may have been

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motivated by a Trump appointee

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who wants to either weaken what is

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seen as a public institution or

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to actually affect the

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delivery and receipt of mail

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in ballots come November when the

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election rolls around.

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Maya give us an overview of

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some of the post offices in our area

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and how they've been impacted.

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One of the country's biggest

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processing plants is in L.A.

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and we spoke to

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someone with information saying that

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at least three big mail sorting

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machines there were removed.

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Also, there was at least one removed

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in Santa Clarita, which was also

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another big processing center

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and also some removed

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in San Diego.

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And so these these are big

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hubs for the mail to go through.

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There is also, you know, someone

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we spoke to in Tehachapi, the post

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office there where they said that

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the mail was just stacking up.

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Normally they see that the mail

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goes out every day.

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They they deliver all the mail every

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day. And they were shocked to see

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that there was still mail just kind

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of left over the morning

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after.

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And Maya, it's not just about

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equipment. It's about overtime

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hours.

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That's right. I mean, the postmaster

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general claims that he did not

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cut overtime, specifically what

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he said was that he really

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wanted a trucking schedule so that

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all the trucks leave on time

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no matter what, and that that's a

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basic feature of any

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delivery industry.

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And, you know, workers

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that I've spoken to have said that

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they're not trying to do overtime.

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It's just that they have such a

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motto of not leaving mail

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behind, that sometimes,

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you know, there's a lot of mail and

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they need that extra time.

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They need that support in order to

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deliver all the mail.

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Yeah, you know, I heard one postal

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worker saying that some of the

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trucks, now that they're ordered to

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leave on time, are or are leaving

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the facilities half full.

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Some of them with just barely any

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mail at all, which seems very, very

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inefficient. Laura, inside these

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mail facilities, which are huge,

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there are now walls

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stacked up mail, but there's

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also packages.

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I mean, there were already a lot of

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packages because of COVID, but

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there are also packages that have

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rotting food, rotting meat,

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even dead chickens?

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That's right. So a lot of people

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don't know that the Postal Service

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is the only major carrier

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of mail in the United States that

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ships live animals, that includes

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baby chicks younger than 72 hours,

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crickets.

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Other types of live

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animals that are used by farmers and

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other people who keep animals

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for feed and for farming purposes.

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And typically, those chicks are

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supposed to reach their destination

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within three days.

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But workers at the South L.A.

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mail facility are saying that so

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many packages were piling up, that

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they couldn't get through all the

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packages every day, that there were

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orders of, you know, Omaha steaks

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and produce and other types

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of perishable items and also

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live animals that were just getting

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buried in piles and

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piles of packages that they couldn't

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sort through. And unfortunately,

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things ended up spoiling.

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And animals ended up dying,

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workers said.

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Maya, the big question is,

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can we trust the Postal Service

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to deliver our ballots to

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us and then send them back

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to the registrars?

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Mr. DeJoy says that it's

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not going to be a problem.

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One of the workers said to you?

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You know, they still,

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I think, largely say

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that they can handle election mail.

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I think that some of these,

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especially in California, you know,

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luckily we have a little bit more

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leeway in terms of the election

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deadlines with with ballots.

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But some of the larger issues are

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not just with what's happening

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with the election, but

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the fact that these these practices

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are going to, I guess,

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come back into place after the

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election because the postmaster

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general said he was merely

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suspending these operations

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until after the election.

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And so I think that there's

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you know, that the workers, I think,

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feel up to the job, of course,

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they're going to do everything they

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can to deliver the nation's election

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mail. But, you know, is

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is what happened a preview of what's

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going to happen later once

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these policies get

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reenacted after the election,

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is mail in general going to

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going to be so snarled?

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Are people not going to get their

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prescriptions and their paychecks?

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So I think that, you know,

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I think that there is still

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capacity, but

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I think there's a worry that this is

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kind of a preview of

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maybe more chaos at the

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post office.

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All right, Laura Nelson and Maya

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Lau. Thanks, you guys, for your

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reporting. Always good to have you.

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Thanks for having us.