What with the national mail system bleeding money (and consequently raising the price of a first-class stamp again), I imagine the higher-ups at the USPS aren’t happy hearing that two of their Baltimore post offices are “cash cows” — but not in a good way.
According to authorities, two local post office managers, Richard L. Wright III (Waverly) and Kimberly Parnell (Pikesville) received significant kickbacks for — get this — fraudulent landscaping work. The scam was a simple one: Wright would conspire with contractors for work that never got done. They’d invoice him; he’d cut a check (with USPS funds), and they’d split the money. Between 2007 and 2013, Wright’s preferred contractor got $419,000 for landscaping work at the Waverly branch. With that kind of money, there should’ve been topiaries and koi ponds; if you’ve actually been to that office, you’ll know that it doesn’t exactly look like that.
“Detailed allegations in the white-collar bribery case read similarly to many of the street crime cases that come through Baltimore’s federal courthouse,” the Baltimore Sun’s wonderful Justin Fenton wrote, “with Wright demanding payment from co-conspirators, discussing drug deals, and chambering a round in a handgun as someone approached his house.” The Sun reports that Wright was also selling marijuana.
You should clarify that the only reason the USPS bleeds money is that they’re required to fund retirement for future employees who have yet to be born. This is a starve the beast strategy to eliminate and privatize federal mail service, which without this ridiculous burden, would be profitable.