A U.S. Postal Service tractor-trailer driver testified before Congress on Tuesday that operational changes over the past year have resulted in a “slow and steady decline and delay” of the nation’s mail.
Brian McLaurin, a 23-year veteran of the struggling agency, told lawmakers that heavy-duty truck drivers working for the Postal Service had been empowered over the years to move the mail on time by waiting for their truck to be fully loaded before heading out from the loading dock — and getting paid overtime to do it.
“If some mail didn’t make it on the truck, that wasn’t a serious problem since we made multiple trips early in the day, and sometimes extra trips to move the mail,” McLaurin said at the U.S. Senate hearing on the agency’s service issues.
“Today, however, we leave mail behind because we make fewer trips, are understaffed, and are required to stick to rigid delivery schedules which require drivers like me to leave with trucks that are not fully loaded. Times have changed where we don’t value the sanctity of the mail — we would never leave mail behind.”