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Mail delays: Congressmen visits USPS facility
A group of Georgia congressmen toured the U.S. Postal Service facility in Palmetto Monday that has been blamed for much of the delivery delays seen across north Georgia for months.
PALMETTO, Ga. - A group of Georgia Congressmen toured the USPS Facility in Palmetto Monday that has been blamed for much of the delivery delays we’ve seen across North Georgia for months.
Representatives Mike Collins, Austin Scott, and Andrew Clyde said customers should start seeing significant improvements in the next six to eight weeks.
"When you have elderly people that are getting their checks in every month, or their prescriptions in, and we really didn't have a good answer for them. And so that is where we started putting the pressure on here to make sure we get some sort of answer," Rep. Collins said.
A number of issues have plagued the Palmetto site, which opened in February, from stacks of delayed mail and packages to long lines of trucks lined up at the facility.
"They had some labor issues that was part of the cause of the delay, but I think they have overcome that now and are on their way up," Rep. Clyde explained.
The Palmetto location is one of 60 facilities across the country with planned changes to consolidate in order to increase efficiency. On Monday, the congressmen said it was a necessary change as demand for first-class mail decreases and packages increases.
They also stressed that communication from the postal service to customers about what was happening was lacking.
"The old facilities designed around first class mail simply were not efficient. This current facility is going to be efficient," Rep. Scott said.
"They've got that management in place right now and employees in place right now to continue to improve, and I expect within the next couple of months to not to be getting those phone calls that we're getting right now from constituents that are concerned, and rightly so," Rep. Clyde added.
USPS sent FOX 5 Atlanta a statement following the congressional representatives' visit, saying in part, "First-Class Mail Performance has improved by nearly 40-percentage points. While we are not entirely satisfied with the current levels, this positive trend indicates that the challenges we faced in March are being actively addressed."
"I have a lot of faith in them now. My faith in them is going to need to be verified based on the metrics, and I expect we'll get those updates every 10-14 days," Rep. Scott said.
Sen. Ossoff tours Palmetto USPS facility
Sen. Jon Ossoff toured the infamous USPS Palmetto sorting facility last week.
Ossoff has been very vocal about the issues the facility has allegedly presented for Georgians. At the beginning of May, he pressed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over the mail delays and gave him a short deadline to report on Atlanta's postal issues.
"USPS is letting Georgians down," Sen. Ossoff said. "It is my role, it is my obligation, it is my duty to hold them accountable."
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Ossoff tours USPS facility in Palmetto
New insight on the enduring problems at the post office in north Georgia. Sen. Jon Ossoff toured the infamous Palmetto sorting facility to get a firsthand look at what’s going on.
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