The U.S. Postal Service continues to struggle to get mail delivered in a timely manner after nearly five years since the problem became acute.
While members of Congress continue call for change, it appears to be coming slowly. A recent in-depth report by the Rochester Post-Bulletin showed severe staffing shortages, unbearable overtime for employees and, more important, a system that seems unresponsive to media inquiries leaving the public in the dark.
Staffing is down at the Rochester postal service by 17% compared to 2017, while the number of mailboxes and addresses has gone up by 3,000, according to the Post-Bulletin. When a carrier calls in sick, their route is often not delivered.
The Free Press has also attempted to shed light on the problems in the Mankato area. Though they don’t seem as bad as before (in some cases Free Press newspapers were delivered several days after publication), the silence from the post office is deafening.