Waiting for your mail? Medicine deliveries? Paychecks or bills? Hundreds of South Dakotans have been experiencing frustration with the U.S. Postal Service across the state – and if Sen. Mike Rounds’ hunch is correct, the problem may be region-wide.
“What we are learning so far, anecdotally is: number one, it appears that the regional centers have some mechanical issues in terms of just the mechanics of the machinery itself—don’t work as well as they should.” Rounds told the Capital Journal in a sit-down interview last week. “Number two, there were contract carriers for years where you had local contractors who had accountability for what they did in the local area. A lot of those local contractors have now been replaced by larger, more regional or national contractors who then subcontract back out in local areas.”
The scope of the problem is still being revealed.
There really isn’t anything new here. Despite what Steiner says, service is poor all across the country. What is new is that now the OIG has publicly stated they can’t trust the USPS to be honest when informed of an upcoming audit. This follows a pattern of deceit when congress makes inquiries, often bumping up staffing or paying overtime to allay a crisis then quickly returning to delaying mail, as in Palmetto. Carriers across the country are being told to be off by a certain time, to curtail the mail and deliver the parcels. Thousands of routes every day are simply not being delivered. Steiner has admitted they’ll be out of cash in a year; the BOG and PRC need to press him for a plan, if he’s got one it’s time to present it.