WASHINGTON — If you feel your mail service isn’t what it used to be, you’re not alone. Some members of Congress are noticing delays, too.
Pocan serves on the House subcommittee that oversees the United States Postal Service (USPS). Wisconsin was part of a cost-saving pilot program launched under the former postmaster general Louis DeJoy called Local Transportation Optimization (LTO). The program ended the afternoon pickup of mail from post offices to reduce the number of trips by mail trucks. It resulted in a slowdown of mail service, especially in rural areas.
Tammy Hull, the USPS inspector general, said she visited Wisconsin to study how it affected service.
“There were collection boxes that weren’t being emptied, so that the mail could enter into this system, because they didn’t understand how the process worked,” she said. “Some of the drivers that went out to pick up the mail at the end of the day also were picking up mail from collection boxes, so lots of challenges.”
Still, after testing LTO in Wisconsin and Virginia, USPS this month expanded the program across the nation. The postal service admited that allowing for “flexibility” in schedules may delay mail by a day, but it also projected $36 billion in savings.
Pocan criticized the plan as one that prioritizes cost savings over delivering the mail.
