Local Mail Service Woes Prompt Congressional Push for Investigation
Spiraling frustration over persistent mail delays has sparked growing calls for federal oversight of U.S. Postal Service operations, as delivery problems continue to plague communities across Missouri and Kansas.
“You don’t have to pay too much attention to realize that mail has been a disaster lately,” said Senator Graves in a recent statement. “Late mail, missing mail, or no mail at all, it just doesn’t seem to show up. I hear from constituents literally every day.”
The crisis has deepened as USPS has lowered delivery targets, with the agency now aiming to deliver only 80% of three-to-five-day mail on time, down from 90% in fiscal 2024.
A recent investigation of the Kansas City Processing and Delivery Center revealed troubling findings. Inspectors found 100,000 delayed pieces of mail over just three days, with staffing shortages and high rates of unscheduled absences cited as primary factors.
“Our postal carriers do their very best, but they can only deliver what gets back to them from the black hole of the processing centers,” Graves noted.
This week, Graves joined Missouri Senators Josh Hawley Hawley and Eric Schmitt in requesting an Inspector General investigation into similar delays at the St. Louis Processing and Delivery Center. The move comes as rural communities face additional challenges, with USPS ending afternoon collections at post offices more than 50 miles from regional hubs.
“Rural Missouri depends on the mail for bills, medicine, payments and business deliveries,” Graves emphasized. “They can’t just keep raising prices, failing to deliver, losing packages, and blaming everyone except the people that actually run the Postal Service.”
The mounting pressure for reform comes as regulators warn USPS that its current plans to fix operations and finances lack convincing evidence of success, raising further concerns about the future of reliable mail service across the region.
–Dwight Widaman
