The holiday season is here, bringing joy with family, gifts, carols, and treats. But one thing causing frustration this year is the unreliable mail delivery. As families gather, the topic of whether your Christmas card or package has arrived will likely come up.
The U.S. Postal Service USPS has been struggling with delays, and it’s not getting any better. This issue affects people in North Missouri and all across the country, and I hear about it every day. Now, USPS is making matters worse with a new plan that will hurt rural Americans even more.
The “Regional Transportation Optimization” plan aims to reduce how often USPS visits rural post offices to pick up outgoing mail. This will lead to even more delays for people in rural areas.
I’ve already contacted the Postmaster General to let him know how terrible this plan is. It’s unfair and creates a two-tiered system where rural Americans get treated as second-class citizens. At the same time, USPS keeps raising postage rates, which means paying more but getting worse service. Thankfully, they’ve paused the next rate hike, but they should have fixed the delivery issues before thinking about raising prices.
USPS says this plan will save money, but we’ve heard similar promises before, like when they said changing postal retirement funding would fix everything. It didn’t, and service only got worse.
The problem isn’t with local mail carriers; it’s a management issue. USPS needs more workers focused on delivering mail on time. If management worked on that instead of cutting rural services or pushing a failed electric vehicle plan, we might actually see improvements.
This fight isn’t over. The Postal Service is essential, and the people of Missouri deserve better service. We will keep pushing for improvements and accountability.