cmrenno,
I do believe you are correct. What I have seen is the post office higher ups are playing politics with the sorting stations.
They are closing the ones that are running fairly efficiently and moving that mail to other stations that are already running very slow. They are deliberately sabotaging the system.
I suspect it will be like the phoney gas shortage of 1973. When they get a big enough rate increase suddenly all the stations will be open again and things will run well for a while. Then they'll do it all over again.
JMHO
Joe