In 2025, almost everyone is online. Overnight shipping, online bill pay and endless streaming services are at our fingertips.
And as technology and society shift to meet those changes, people living in rural Missouri don’t want to be left out of the conversation just because their packages may take more time to arrive.
Under a recent consolidation effort by the U.S. Postal Service, though, rural areas farther away from processing hubs are seeing more reductions in service compared to their urban counterparts, even in areas that haven’t technically seen parts of the plan go into effect yet.
“The mail, it’s awful. Sometimes we don’t even get things that were sent to us,” said Leah Lawson, vice president of the Bank of New Madrid in southeast Missouri.
The bank and its customers rely heavily on mail delivery to pay their bills. But more and more people are getting slapped with late fees because their payments don’t make it on time.
“It’s their light bill or water bill, and if it gets lost it doesn’t matter,” said Lawson. “You’re getting a late fee, because they say it’s your responsibility.”
In late July, the Postal Service cut back on services in 540 — nearly half — of Missouri’s ZIP codes by reducing mail collection from morning and evening to morning-only collection.
