Are Birthday Cards Getting People Killed?
Cargo, including birthday cards, and the trucks carrying mail are getting people killed. The US Post Office is under pressure to cut costs. It’s turned to inexpensive, dangerous trucking companies to transport our Amazon packages, checks, and birthday cards. These companies, hungry for business but with no appetite for safety, have gotten people killed.
If you’re injured in a truck accident, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm you suffer. Call Castillo & Associates at 800-497-9774 today to speak with a skilled attorney who will defend the right to fair compensation for what you’re going through.
The Post Office May Be Too Concerned With Cutting Costs
From the 1850s to the 1960s, Congress paid the US Postal Service’s (USPS) deficits because it was considered a public service, not a money-making operation. They’re now a semi-independent federal agency that must at least break even. The meet its obligations, it must raise revenue. That encourages it to cut its costs.
That usually isn’t a bad thing. But if you’re the USPS and desperate to save money, you may use contractors who lower their prices by cutting their costs, including those that support safer trucks and drivers. Though the Postal Service has trucks and drivers, about 70% of the work is contracted out.
How bad has it gotten? According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):
- Postal trucking contractors have been involved in at least 68 fatal crashes, killing 79 people, in the last three years
- Nearly 50 long-haul trucking companies working for the USPS had safety records so bad that another arm of the federal government, the Department of Transportation (DOT), put them on probation. Most reputable trucking companies and customers won’t use trucking companies on probation due to safety risks
Is safety a priority over cost-cutting for the USPS? They say it is, but actions speak louder than words.
The Lowest Bidder May Not Be the Safest Bidder
Mail and package delivery and the trucks that make it possible are essential post office functions. Not one of their jobs is to make our roadways more dangerous. Among other things, these contracted companies ignore hours-of-service regulations. The results of these legal violations can be crashes causing simple vehicle damage as well as minor, severe, and fatal injuries.
A significant issue for these companies is they’re not complying with federal hours-of-service rules, which require drivers to get off the road after a set period of driving to rest. If fatigued, long-distance drivers behind the wheel are far more dangerous than well-rested drivers. They may be distracted, irritable, falling asleep, or resort to legal or illegal drugs to stay awake. These drivers are accidents waiting to happen.
The Postal Service paid one of its biggest trucking vendors in 2021 more than $115 million. Two sister companies paid fines in 2017 for safety violations, including failing to ensure drivers worked within the driving hour limits, which led to the DOT putting them on probation. From 2017 to 2022, their drivers violated the limited driving time rules more than 200 times.
About 39% of trucking contractors that hauled US mail broke these and related rules, according to the WSJ, compared with 13% of all commercial trucking firms inspected during the same time frame.
Are Drivers Not Resting Enough a Bug or a Feature?
The WSJ found the Postal Service may not have just looked the other way from unsafe trucking companies but required them to break federal rules. One route in a USPS contract gives the company truck from 3:30 am to 5:30 pm to leave Salt Lake City and arrive in San Francisco. This adds up to 15 hours, given the time change from Mountain to Pacific Times.
That’s more than the 11 hours of daily driving allowed under federal rules. It’s also an hour longer than the 14 hours permitted for the overall time a driver can work, covering stops and loading.
No Business Model Should Include Death and Destruction
Unsafe trucking companies can try to justify their actions when they force drivers to continue longer than they legally should to maintain tight schedules: if they don’t make their customers happy, their contracts will stop, the revenue will cease, and people may be laid off, or the company will close.
Unemployment isn’t good for anyone, but a company and a job shouldn’t be based on needlessly and illegally risking severe injuries and deaths of those unlucky enough to get in the way.
After a Commercial Truck Accident, Talk to a Skilled Truck Accident Lawyer
Following a commercial truck accident, get the compensation you deserve. The truck accident attorneys at Castillo & Associates are highly skilled and have handled many complex truck accident cases in the Inland Empire. We have successfully helped more than 10,000 accident victims recover financial compensation. Contact Castillo & Associates today to schedule a free consultation.
Attorney Domingo Castillo handles workers’ compensation, personal injury, family law & immigration throughout Southern California from our 5 offices: Indio, Pomona, Riverside, San Diego & Cathedral City. We help clients file injury claims, obtain residency & citizenship, and we assist families through divorce, child custody and all family law matters.
