By MATTHEW WIKFORS
Kara Robinson, a resident of Longridge Road, enjoys spending time outside. As a writer who works from home, she has plenty of free time to enjoy outdoors, whether it be walking her dog or sitting in her backyard on a deck chair. With the days growing longer, she said that the one thing she wouldn’t do outside is wait for the mail.
“I think it’s strange the mail is arriving so late,” she said. “It used to arrive at around 4 everyday. We would see the truck stop at the house across the street and pull back around to reach us last. It’s pitch black except for streetlights now when the mail comes. I don’t want to be sitting outside in the summer at 8 p.m. with my family as the sun starts to set and see the mail truck pull up to our mailbox.”
The Postal Service Crisis of 2020
Despite popular thinking, the delay in mail delivery from the United States Postal Service is not entirely due to COVID-19. The USPS has adjusted its services to meet COVID-19 guidelines, including limiting the number of staff and customers inside of local offices, ensuring six feet of distance between postal workers and residents on delivery routes, and even encouraging postal workers to receive the vaccine as soon as possible. Their website is also transparent about delays to residential areas nationwide.
The delays are the result of changes that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy implemented. DeJoy was appointed as Postmaster General under the Trump administration in June 2020. The USPS experienced continued financial loss in 2020, posting a $9.2 billion loss despite an $2 billion increase in revenue for this year. For every dollar increase in revenue, the USPS lost $1.15 in costs. The USPS had been experiencing financial loss long before DeJoy was instated. DeJoy, who has no prior experience in the USPS, took measures to reduce costs and reorganized staff.
One of these changes was a reduction in overtime that instructed postal workers to return with any undelivered mail if they are unable to finish their route by the end of their shift. Many sorting machines were also dismantled or removed as per DeJoy’s requests, leading to a decrease in the speed of sorting and delivery. Both sorters and carriers were pressured to follow a strict schedule, calling for any mail not processed on time to be left behind.
There was a congressional hearing for DeJoy in August in regards to worries about mail-in ballots. There was fear that the USPS would experience delays in processing the ballots due to the volume of them. In December 2020, there were also heavy delays in shipping for the holiday season.
Near the end of February, The House Oversight Committee held a hearing for DeJoy on postal service reform amid the concerns over continued delays. DeJoy also plans to impose changes over the next 10 years to improve the agency’s finances, including moves such as eliminating two day first-class delivery.
The changes he plans to implement will likely further slow down delivery services, observers say. What new changes will arise are uncertain since DeJoy plans to release this plan later this month.
USPS undertook a major step toward an investment in its future with a production contract for a next generation delivery vehicle. The vehicle award is part of a 10-year plan to improve customer service, achieve financial stability and better support the postal workforce.
— U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) February 23, 2021
At Home and Local Worries
With delays being consistent and the future for the USPS being unclear, residents of Longridge Road are growing increasingly worried about the safety of their mail.
“I constantly have someone check the mailbox,” Jennifer Wikfors said. “With COVID, I’m worried about people stealing mail because I’ve heard it happen in other places. I’m especially concerned with bills not arriving on time or having to leave bills in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up. Even if something like a birthday card doesn’t arrive on time, I get worried.”
“Everything else runs on schedule,” Debbie Sunshine said. “The garbage gets picked up on time every Wednesday. Recycling gets picked up every Thursday morning. In the fall, the town even picked up sticks and debris on schedule. I understand that the problems aren’t something the town can fix and that the trouble lay with the postal service. I just hope that something can be done. I always trusted the mailman to deliver my mail on time and the postal service to be reliable. Now, I’m not so sure. I don’t want to lose that trust, but I’m starting to feel like I am.”
Steve Sunshine, husband of Debbie Sunshine, speaking about how he feels the problems with the mail disrupt the routine he has become used to.
I thought the story was very well done with how you got quotes from a variety concerned citizens of the town, all sharing that common frustration with the post office. It was very well researched with a good amount of links and multimedia elements indicating exactly how the USPS has changed over the last year.