Congresswoman Cori Bush is demanding that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy address the concerns of St. Louis residents experiencing sluggish mail.
As reported by the RFT in January, that includes anecdotes of some neighborhoods getting delivery only once or twice a week — and tracked mail showing up sometimes nearly a week after its estimated delivery date. The postmaster told one concerned city resident they were on “an overtime route.”
Bush suggested that the problems continue, and said some constituents reported receiving vital documents, including utility bills, Social Security checks and federal benefits documents weeks after their bills are due.
“In some instances, documents are not delivered at all,” Bush wrote. She cited a dashboard by the U.S. Postal Service that shows first-class mail was delivered on-time only half of the time in the first week of February. Bush also noted that Ferguson residents have gone weeks without getting mail, as KTVI first reported.
“We have entire neighborhoods reporting that they haven’t received mail for a full week at a time,” Bush wrote. “These delays have a devastating impact on our seniors and folks with disabilities who rely on timely delivery of these documents.”
This isn’t the first time Bush has reached out to USPS.
In September her office contacted USPS to follow-up on the concerns of residents in north county. She said she was told these delays were due to staffing shortages, but things have only gotten worse in the nearly five months since.
During the Christmas holiday season, Bush’s office reported hearing from more than 20 seniors who had not received their mail in over a week.
“This caused great distress to those who feared their utilities may be cut off or they would face eviction for missing rent payments,” Bush wrote.
When the RFT reached out in January, USPS provided few answers as to why the mail service in St. Louis is so terrible, but they did provide the following statement:
“The Postal Service is committed to providing the best possible service to our customers and we are currently experiencing no delays in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. However, for anyone with a service-related issue, we recommend they go to www.usps.com and click on ‘Contact us’ at the bottom of our homepage or utilize this direct web address: usps.force.com/emailus/s/. We are actively hiring in the St. Louis, MO area and interested applicants can get more information at www.usps.com/careers.”
Bush asked the Postmaster General a series of questions and then closed with this: “Due to the serious negative impacts on the people of St. Louis, especially our most vulnerable, I ask that immediate action be taken to address these issues.”
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