VIRGINIA, USA — Following outcries from several Virginia lawmakers, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Inspector General conducted an audit that found "egregious" concerns with the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Sandston.
The USPS' 10-year "Delivering for America" plan was meant to consolidate and streamline operations to "reduce transportation costs and improve service reliability." But in the case of the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center — which handles all mail from Hampton Roads — the results have been less than desirable.
Over the last several months, a bipartisan group — including Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Jennifer McClellan and Rep. Bobby Scott — has been calling on USPS to address mail delays and disruptions at the Richmond-area facility. The lawmakers' concerns stemmed from various delays, including reports of delayed or thrown-out cancer screening results for veterans, mail theft and missing voter ballots.
The issues have been a major problem for Virginia's 680,000 military veterans who rely on timely mail delivery when it comes to getting their disability checks and mail-in prescription drugs.
Following the report's release, the bi-partisan group released a joint statement saying, in part, "It couldn’t be clearer that USPS has not been providing reliable service to Virginians."
"This report pinpoints a number of issues, including a lack of coordination between USPS and staff at the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC)," the statement continues. "Going forward, USPS must provide more resources and clearer guidance to management and staff at RPDC, among other steps. We look forward to working with USPS to ensure that happens, the recommendations in the IG report are implemented, and mail delivery is timely for Virginians.”
Sen. Kaine vows to keep the pressure on the postal service.
"It's not acceptable with this agency that's so important to the lives of so many," he said. "We're going to continue to do that to make sure that Virginians and Americans get the postal service they're paying for and they deserve."
Through the audit, the USPS Inspector General made 10 recommendations the Richmond-area center should implement to improve the delivery and processing of mail and packages.
"The issues range from egregious lack of attention to detail (pieces of mail falling off conveyor belts and being lost), to poor synchronizing between machines processing mail at the facility and the schedules of trucks transporting mail to and from the facility, to broader questions about whether the RPDC model is generating the cost savings and efficiency improvements this model has promised," according to a release.
The report went on to say local management was "deficient in operational execution" and management did not train all employees on standard work instructions for new mailing processes. Other concerns cited include staffing shortages that overburdened workers and poor communication among headquarters, regional and on-site staff.