Audit finds flaws, undelivered mail at Postal Service's new processing facility

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News/AP

April 3, 2024, 3:01 PM


RICHMOND, Va. -- An audit conducted by the Postal Service's inspector general found significant problems at a new regional processing facility in Virginia, including water-damaged mail left unprocessed for months and a worker asleep at a forklift.

The audit, dated March 28, raises questions about the Postal Service's plans to modernize its processing network — the Richmond facility that was the focus of the audit is the first of a planned 60 regional processing centers that USPS is launching nationwide that are supposed to streamline operations and improve efficiency.

But the audit found that problems at the Richmond center, which opened in July, have contributed to a drop in on-time service that now finds Virginia ranked worst in the nation. The inspector general said only 66% of first-class mail has been delivered within two days in the current fiscal year, compared to a national average of 87%. No other region in the U.S. fell below 80%, according to the inspector general's office.

The Postal Service has estimated that the $23 million facility will produce $15 million annually in savings by consolidating operations. But the audit found that work hours and overtime actually increased after the center opened. “At this time, it is unclear if the Postal Service will realize the expected savings associated with consolidating operations into the Richmond” regional processing center, the audit concluded.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/audit-finds-flaws-undelivered-mail-postal-services-new-108813705

[ConstanceCee]

1. Yes

I live in Richmond, VA, where mail delivery has become hit or miss. I tracked two packages that had been mailed to me that sat in the Sandston processing center for a while, then went to North Carolina and sat for a while more. One of these went first to Charlottesville on its way to North Carolina. Both of our good U.S. Senators, Warner and Kaine, are aware of this and are trying to do something about it. I do not comprehend why Louis DeJoy is still in charge.

[sakabatou]

3. DeJoy is still there because the board of governors hasn't kicked him out

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Somebody made a lot of money building the facility, on someone's land

or maybe the management consultants made errors in judgment.

[montanacowboy]

4. But....

DeJoy still has his job - unfucking believable

[erronis]

5. I'll take a guess that DeJoy or some of his friends made $$s on this deal

Follow the money. Saving money by consolidating, saving money by slowing down deliveries, starving the workforce, etc.

Money saved, money into someone's pockets.

[ga_girl]

6. Same in Palmetto Georgia

[CurtEastPoint]

7. yes, Atlanta has been impacted. I ordered pet med from Iowa and it went to 2 places in Puerto Rico for a while...

then to Georgia. Took FOURTEEN DAYS from F'ing Iowa to Georgia. GD DeJoy

[Blue Owl]

8. Just like Donny Dump....

Louis DeJoy seems to have a free license to fail upwards…..

[Backseat Driver]

9. I ordered some charms from a "nearby" Etsy shop for Xmas gifts this past year. Look at

this weird tracking...It would have taken me about 2 hours to go pick it up SMH...

Nov 30, 1:59pm
HILLIARD, OH 43026, US
Delivered, In/At Mailbox
Nov 30, 6:10am
HILLIARD, OH 43026, US
Out for Delivery
Nov 30, 4:09am
HILLIARD, OH 43026, US
Arrived at Post Office
Nov 30, 3:41am
COLUMBUS OH DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Departed USPS Regional Facility
Nov 29, 3:20am
COLUMBUS OH DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
Nov 29, 12:48am
CINCINNATI OH NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Departed USPS Regional Facility
Nov 28, 10:44pm
CINCINNATI OH NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
Nov 28, 9:01pm
US
In Transit to Next Facility
Nov 28, 7:56pm
INDIANAPOLIS IN PACKAGE SORTING CENTER
Departed USPS Regional Facility
Nov 28, 7:15pm
INDIANAPOLIS IN PACKAGE SORTING CENTER
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
Nov 28, 1:55pm
US
In Transit to Next Facility
Nov 28, 9:09am
US
In Transit to Next Facility
Nov 28, 4:32am
WICHITA KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Departed USPS Regional Facility
Nov 26, 8:55pm
WICHITA KS DISTRIBUTION CENTER
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
Nov 22, 5:09pm
CLEVELAND, OH 44181, US
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
Nov 22, 4:27pm
BEREA, OH 44017, US
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
Nov 22, 12:00am
US
Pre-Shipment, USPS Awaiting Item

Shipping from:
Company name
Cleveland, OH, United States
Adjusted delivery: From Washington, IL (nowhere else on tracking?) To Hilliard OH by Nov 30

[PlutosHeart]

10. Sometimes people can be so gullible.

Wake up Dems! This is intentional. Our mail goes to other States now (takes a detour) when it is in our own State in a city 2 hours away!

[swimboy]

11. Can confirm

Mail handling and delivery in Richmond is seriously dysfunctional.

[Katcat]

12. Dejoy

Dejoy is doing an excellent job at ruining the Postal Service. I’ve written checks and mailed them many many times but not anymore. The last checks that I mailed never made it to the addressee. In fact, they’ve disappeared completely. And to make matters worse they were mailed from different post offices in different states.

[Smackdown2019]

13. Wish i could speak

I listen and i give the same line. I hear the frustrations, but i can only speak what i know, nothing more. I will say this though, it never was like this in 90s and two decades ago.

[LiberalArkie]

19. But years ago it was a constitutional mandate to deliver mail, now it is a for profit business.

[Smackdown2019]

20. Incorrect

It is still a mandate per the us constitution and all funding is derived solely by the sales of the products and services the post office offers. One word....
Poor mismanagement!

[LiberalArkie]

21. Well let me rephrase it, it did not used to have to show a profit.

Before 1792, the Postal Service was basically a carbon copy of the imperial post office British colonial administrators had set up decades before the War of Independence. Little more than a chain of offices along the Atlantic seaboard — today known as the “Old Post Road” — it provided no special facilities for the press and served at best a tiny percentage of the public — mostly merchants, professionals and government officials.

The Postal Service Act of 1792 changed everything, investing the Postal Service with an expansive civic mission. While the law had no ringing preamble, it was at least as important as the First Amendment in laying the groundwork for free institutions. The act established mechanisms for rapid expansion from the seaboard into the hinterland, ultimately creating a continent-spanning postal network. This information infrastructure facilitated the rise of a nationwide market, the invention of the mass political party and the proliferation of nationally oriented voluntary associations. With the Postal Service, Congress created the world French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville would laud as the world’s first democracy when he visited the United States in 1831.

Most critically, the act subsidized the circulation of newspapers throughout the country on a nonpreferential basis and at extremely low cost. Not only pro-government ideas but also anti-government ideas could circulate throughout the length and breadth of the republic. Before 1792, newspapers had been officially excluded from the mail; after 1792, they circulated in numbers unmatched by any other country in the world.

Snip

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/27/founders-never-intended-postal-service-be-managed-like-business/

[TheJillMill]

14. Almost a Month...

My niece in Baltimore mailed out invitations to a lot of people around the first week in March for her son’s first birthday party, which will take place Saturday. Not one person got an invitation though they went to several states. She put them all in a mailbox and perhaps they are still at the bottom of the box. My sister said she would never mail anything in a box. Perhaps Baltimore’s distribution place is in Virginia too. My niece ended up texting the invitation, which is the only way anybody found out about the event.

[kimbutgar]

15. And he just gave a contract to UPS to air deliver US mail

He is trying to privatize the USPS and using UPS is just the start.

Dejoy must go.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Fedex had the previous contract

so it's one of those government 10-year contracts that had to be renewed (and Fedex walked away).

[Lonestarblue]

16. Everything DeJoy has done has damaged the USPS and made service worse.

What hold does he have over the Board of Governors that allows him to keep his job? The Board now has a majority of Biden appointees and they could get rid of DeJoy easily. Why have they not done so when the USPS just gets worse.

[oldsoftie]

18. The "new & improved" postal facility in ATL has been a JOKE

I got a letter yesterday that was mailed Mar 7th. We both live in the same city.