After pressure from lawmakers, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy agreed to pause changes to mail processing operations until after January 1, 2025.
The pause would put on hold the USPS’ 10-year “Delivering for America” plan, the Mail Processing Facility Reviews (MPFR) investigates whether transferring some local mail processing and distribution tasks to another site in the region while repurposing existing facilities would improve service and cut costs.
The agreement came after Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) sent a joint letter signed by 25 Senate colleagues to DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors on Wednesday, citing their alarm about the decrease of on-time mail delivery in regions where USPS changed its system.
“We call on you to pause planned changes to the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) processing and delivery network under the ‘Delivering for America’ plan,” the letter stated.
While DeJoy acknowledged the Senator’s and his colleagues’ concerns about potential delays in mail delivery service from changes made to the USPS system, he pointed out that the pause would also postpone the benefits.
He explained that positive investments of an estimated $430 million in facilities and $133 million – $177 million in yearly savings “will not be achieved.”
Previously, The Georgia Star News reported that lawmakers had criticized Postmaster General DeJoy for breakdowns in mail services in the Peach State, noting that they “have received numerous calls from constituents frustrated with the abrupt delay in delivery and receipt of their mail.”
In early April, Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) called for an audit and an investigation into the new U.S. Postal Service Processing Center in Palmetto after receiving “a nearly 90% increase in email and phone call messages from residents of North Georgia about USPS mail and package delays.”
Opened in February, the Palmetto Center is a hub for processing and distributing mail from areas that include parts of Augusta, Macon, and Atlanta.
However, the Palmetto Center has reportedly had problems from the beginning, from lost mail and packages to a 36 percent on-time delivery rate of inbound mail received at the facility.
Postal delays are also a concern when voting by absentee ballot. Greene County has a notice on its website informing residents that USPS delays in delivering absentee ballots “may affect the timely receipt and processing of your absentee voting materials.”
Postal facilities in Augusta and Macon are currently under review. According to USPS, restructuring the Augusta system could result in an estimated annual savings of $2.0 million – $2.7 million, while changes to Macon’s system could potentially create an annual savings of $3.9 million – $5.2 million.
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Debra McClure is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Debra on X / Twitter.
