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.
Kansas City leadership agreed to implement suggestions listed in the audit by the end of October, including improving training for supervisors and ensuring scanning of mail was happening consistently.
In addition, inspectors visited three Kansas City area post offices and found issues such as packages scanned far away from the delivery point, unsecured keys to mailboxes and missing ceiling tiles in the facility.
The audit was initiated by “service performance concerns,” Tara Linne, spokesperson for the USPS Department of Inspector General, wrote in a June email.
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall replied to the audit, saying in a letter, “I hope the USPS will take these findings and implement real solutions to these problems- until this is addressed, our team will continue to sound the alarm.”
How bad is KC’s late mail problem?
In the first three months of 2024, only 83% of first-class letters arrived on time in Kansas and Missouri. This is the sixth worst out of 50 districts in the nation, according to data from the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that oversees the USPS.
For years, U.S. representatives and senators in Kansas and Missouri have called for improved mail service , including Marshall, Sen. Jerry Moran, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Eric Schmitt, Rep. Sharice Davids, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and Rep. Sam Graves.
Cleaver has repeatedly criticized Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. In a Tuesday press release, he said since DeJoy took the position in 2020, “using the Postal Service has become more expensive and simultaneously less reliable.”
This month, Cleaver introduced an act to put more oversight on the USPS’s delivery of newspapers.
A more detailed audit of the entire Kansas City area post office network is expected to be released next month.
Having mail issues?
In January, Cleaver recommended reaching out to your congressional representative if you are not getting mail delivered.
“I think the public has to continue to do what they’re doing, which is let us know how difficult things are being made by the postal service,” he said.
You can also report issues to the U.S. Postal Service directly by calling or visiting your local post office or contacting the national organization at 1-800-275-8777 or submitting a form .
A first class letter is considered late if it hasn’t arrived five or more days after it was sent, according to the postal service website.
The agency recommended reaching out if your address has not received mail in two days or is not getting it on the same day of the week for two weeks.
Have more questions about government services in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com .
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