Tester Demands Accountability After New Reports of Intentional Mail Delays

Senator to Postal Service: Terminate Faulty Managers, Address Poor Service and Inaccurate Reporting

(U.S. Senate)-Following reports that 2 billion pieces of mail were delayed in delivery, U.S. Senator Jon Tester has tough words for the U.S. Postal Service.

Postal employees have reported that supervisors have been intentionally delaying mail in order to meet arbitrary quotas and goals. Tester called that unacceptable and demanded the Postal Service immediately fix the problem to ensure that families and small businesses receive timely mail service.

“Any employee who deliberately delayed mail delivery or who knowingly misreported mail delivery should be terminated for violating the trust of America’s hardworking taxpayers and postal ratepayers,” Tester wrote to the Postmaster General. “Inaccurate reporting of delayed mail has cost the Postal Service severely at a time when its reputation and earnings are in dire need of rehabilitation.”

According to a recent report by an independent, non-partisan Inspector General, a lack of management and training has caused a delay in mail delivery. The report also notes that the delays are going unrecorded, causing daily mail condition reports to be extremely inaccurate.

Tester, a longtime advocate for rural mail delivery, sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which oversees the Postal Service.

You can read Tester’s letter HERE.