SUFFOLK, Va. — Some Hampton Roads residents are experiencing mail delivery delays, which could be happening due to the US Postal Service cutting back on overtime hours.
Suffolk homeowner Wulf Berg served 21 years in the United States Air Force. Berg is retired and was waiting more days than usual for his mail to arrive.
“I did not receive any mail on Tuesday or Wednesday," said Berg.
Berg’s concerned about the announcement from postmaster general about cutting overtime for workers to save money due to the coronavirus pandemic. Under this plan, mail deliveries could be delayed.
For Berg, this could be a problem; he tells us he lives at the end of the driver's daily route and is already experiencing major issues.
“I have to get my medication through the mail order. And guess what? It comes through the mail. I have ordered medication about a week ago and I don’t know where the medication is," he said.
Berg’s neighbor experienced delays in getting mail too.
“They need to figure out some way to keep the mail moving and not have it negatively impact people from not getting mail, two to three days. We recently didn’t get mail for a couple of days. I don’t know if that’s just a start of things to come or not," said Max Justice.
The USPS sent this statement about the recent decision to cut back hours for workers:
"The Postal Service is developing a business plan to ensure that we will be financially stable and able to continue to provide reliable, affordable, safe and secure delivery of mail, packages and other communications to all Americans as a vital part of the nation's critical infrastructure. While the overall plan is not yet finalized, it will certainly include new and creative ways for us to fulfill our mission, and we will focus immediately on efficiency and items that we can control, including adherence to the effective operating plans that we have developed."
“You don’t cut the service and have a plan at a later date. You need to have a plan first, and then implement the plan," countered Berg.
He also questions how this delay in the mail will affect the upcoming presidential election voting process.
The Postal Service says the plan to reduce overtime will impact hundreds of thousands of postal workers.