ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Amid the last-minute holiday shopping rush, the United States Postal Service (USPS) says it is seeing delays and other issues due to a combination of higher volume of deliveries and low staffing. New legislation in the Senate aims to fix that.
Senator Tina Smith (DFL-MN) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) introduced a new bill called the Postal Delivery Accountability Act, which aims to hold the USPS more accountable for its customers.
The act would ensure USPS has the proper tools to track delivery disruption and make sure that information is available for customers.
On Friday, Senators Smith and Klobuchar spoke to postmaster general Louis DeJoy on a call about the issues happening across Minnesota. Sen. Klobuchar said DeJoy made a commitment to help work on finding a solution to these issues.
“We discussed at length the world carriers and how they have to be compensated. There were issues with them getting their compensation. He pledged to work on that,“ Sen. Klobuchar said. “We talked about this Amazon issue, and he pledged that they wouldn’t have preference over other similar services. We talked about the staffing issue, and he pledged to do everything he can.”
Sen. Klobuchar said she and Sen. Smith are focused right now on getting the bill through the United States Senate because she believes that’s the place to start.
Representative Angie Craig (DFL-MN) says she is carrying the bill through the house.
Sen. Klobuchar said they want to get standards in place of accountability.