Block edit only lets me insert not delete

Question

I would like to delete some spaces across a block of text. I am able to insert spaces or characters, but seem unable to delete.

Steps that I try:

1. Control + V to enter block mode
2. Press up or down key to select the lines I want to edit
3. Press Shift + i (I) to enter capital insert mode
4. Make the changes I want to the top line of the block
5. Press escape

I made a screen cast of me first succeeding in inserting a space across the block then failing to delete a space across the block. MP4 file (If there's a more appropriate place to upload this to please let me know).

How can I delete some spaces across a block in a oner? Everything under steps, I want to delete two spaces. How can I do that?

  send-pg:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: send data to postgres
    steps:
         - name: checkout current repo
           uses: actions/checkout@v2 # Defaults to current repo - check out current repo
         - name: Retreive data from ssql job 
           uses: actions/download-artifact@v2
           with:
             name: marketing-data
             path: ga-files
         - name: Check csv file is there and export matrix game for Rscript
           run: |
              ls -l  
              ls -l ga-files

Answer 1

If you have this in your .vimrc:

set nostartofline " keep cursor on the same column even when no chars are there

Then you could highlight the column (with ctrl + v) just before the hyphens and hit x to delete them.