It’s the United States Postal Service’s informal motto that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will interfere the work of its mail carriers.
Turns out that sometimes the problem can be the postal workers themselves.
Internal investigations from the watchdog agency that oversees the agency shows that three carriers in the Richmond area ditched the mail rather than deliver it last year, adding to examples of unreliable service that residents reported to The Times-Dispatch in the last several months.
The dumping incidents appear to be unrelated to the overhaul that Richmond’s postal system underwent in July 2023, which many blame on late mail or mail not showing up. The region was the first in the country to receive heavy consolidation under U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy’s long-term plan, known as “Delivering for America.”
The records detailing the incidents of mail being thrown away were released via a public records request from the Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General, which audits post offices and investigates fraud.