Talking Points: Lawmakers tackling USPS mail delays, issues
MINNEAPOLIS -- If you are having trouble with your mail, you are not alone.
Communities across Minnesota are reporting delays and days with no mail showing up at all.
The WCCO newsroom always welcomes our viewers' input, and one of the largest issues you are telling us about is problems with your mail.
RELATED: What's behind the mail delivery delays in the Twin Cities?
The problems with mail deliveries have accelerated not just here, but across the country.
Postal carriers tell us there are employee shortages and the priority is for e-commerce packages.
WCCO has repeatedly reached out to the United States Post Office for a comment and has had trouble getting any kind of direct statement.
Congresswoman Angie Craig has been pushing the post office for months, and was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
"It seems like there are new policies in place that the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has put in place that really aren't working," Craig said. "So in the New Year, I', going to be looking at what are some of the structural changes that need to be made in the Postal Service and see if there is a role that Congress to play."
Craig says another problem is that background checks on new employees are taking 30 to 40 days.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar has also been pushing for answers, and she and other lawmakers are even urging people to apply for post office jobs.
Concerns are especially acute in rural areas and for senior citizens who often depend the most on mail delivery.
Klobuchar has pushed for a moratorium on the closing or consolidation of post offices nationwide.
Since 2007, the post office has also been losing money. One reason, unlike any other government agency, the post office has to prefund retiree benefits including pensions, 75 years out, creating financial and budgeting problems.
Despite widespread misconceptions, the post office is not funded by direct taxpayer funds, but by the money taken in for stamps and for mailing packages.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Mornings with Esme Murphy and Meteorologist Joseph Dames every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
