An new audit of the postal service in the Kansas City region revealed late mail has been caused by staffing shortages and lack of management oversight.
Conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, an independent agency, the audit focused on the efficiency of operations at the Kansas City Processing and Distribution Center after the Kansas City area was found to have some of the nation’s slowest mail service.
The inspectors visited the facility in May and found almost 100,000 delayed pieces of mail over three days. The report released July 15 stated that a lack of employees and a high number of unscheduled absences — about 10% a day — caused the issue.
According to the inspection, postal employees were skipping important steps in the transportation and processing of mail, and managers were allowing this to happen.
