For Immediate Release
October 21, 2020
Contact: Mike Roth, 916.813.1554
Breaking: In $200 Million Prop 22 Campaign to Continue Exploiting Workers,
Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash Misuse “Nonprofit” Status to Cheat USPS by at Least $1.5 Million
Sacramento, CA -- Attorneys for the No on Prop 22 campaign today demanded that the U.S. Postmaster General immediately revoke an unlawfully issued “nonprofit” postal permit that Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have misused to send millions of Yes on Prop 22 mailers at discounted postage rates, cheating the post office out of at least $1.5 million.
“It’s hardly surprising that the same app companies that have been violating California’s employment laws for years to exploit their workers would have no qualms about ripping off the struggling postal service,” said No on Prop 22 spokesperson Mike Roth.
In a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General, the attorneys said “This misuse of a non-profit permit coming from a corporate-backed $200 million campaign is unprecedented and should be remedied by the postal service immediately.”
According to publicly filed expenditure reports through September 19, the Prop 22 campaign spent approximately $3.5 million dollars on postage. Had the Uber, Lyft, and Doordash-backed campaign purchased the same amount of postage at lawful rates, it would have paid at a minimum $1.5 million more. The campaign has continued to send mailers in the last month using the unlawfully obtained nonprofit rates, so the real cost in lost postage revenue to USPS is likely far higher.
Federal law is clear that nonprofit mail permits are available only to religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic (charitable), agricultural, labor, veterans, fraternal, local voting registration officials, and “qualified political committees.” The statute specifically and narrowly defines “qualified political committee” as “a national or State committee of a political party, the Republican and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committees, the Democratic National Congressional Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee.”
The Yes on Prop 22 campaign clearly does not qualify for a non-profit postal permit under any of these categories.
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No on Prop 22, sponsored by Labor Organizations, Committee major funding from: International Brotherhood of Teamsters United Food and Commercial Workers International Union CLC Service Employees International Union More Info at www.fppc.ca.gov. |