Lost in the mail: Richmond postal service plant fails to deliver
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Inspectors say they found water-damaged mail that went unprocessed for months, and a mail handler who was asleep at the wheel of a forklift after touring a postal service plant near Richmond, where mail is processed for delivery to Hampton Roads.
Those were just two of a number of problems revealed in a recent inspector general report, which highlighted “many challenges” for the U.S. Postal Service in implementing a consolidated regional processing and distribution center.
The facility, which opened in July, also faced millions in increased costs and “a decrease in service performance.”
A bipartisan group of Virginia legislators, including Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, along with Reps. Bobby Scott (D), Jen Kiggans (R), Jennifer McClellan (D), Rob Wittman (R), Abigail Spanberger (D) and Bob Good (R), said in a joint statement that “it couldn’t be clearer that USPS has not been providing reliable service to Virginians, and we’ve been pressing for answers.”
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They noted that the report put a spotlight on a number of issues, “including a lack of coordination between USPS and staff at the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC). 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.”
The legislators highlighted numerous issues people had with mail delivery.
If the inspector general report had been mailed to people here in Hampton Roads, chances are that first class mail would have been late.
With a rate of 66%, Virginia has the worst delivery rate in the country. That’s compared to a national average of 87%. The inspector general’s office said no other region in the U.S. fell below 80%.
And while late bills and birthday cards may pose an inconvenience for people in Hampton Roads, for former Marine Nelson DeLeon, it could be a matter of life or death, as he takes 25 pills per day to maintain a steady beat for his transplanted heart.
Regina Mobley: Is there anything in that bottle?
Nelson DeLeon: No, nothing. I have none of this medication.
“The VA told me that they had dispatched this medicine on the 29th of March,” he said, “and when I went to the post office yesterday to speak to the clerk, he told me that they seem to be having some trouble from the Richmond distribution center.”
Some trouble is an understatement.
The new facility outside Richmond processes mail for homes and businesses from Richmond to Hampton Roads, and all he way to Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Photos show pounds of mail that arrived after other mail had been sorted, water damaged mail and faulty new equipment.
The DeLeons have been up all night because of a system declared the worst in the nation.
What’s his wife’s number one fear?
“That God forbid, one of these medicines does not arrive on time and it affects his heart,” Lourdes DeLeon said. “My fear is that he has a heart attack.”
Before placing a call to his transplant team, this former Marine checked the mail.
It was there.
With medicine in hand, two days late, perhaps the DeLeons can sleep tonight.
The inspector general report also stated that before the Norfolk distribution center was closed about nine years ago, no formal effort was made to reach out to people like Nelson DeLeon to learn how the closure could affect them.
And though the Postal Service said it expected to save about $15 million in the current fiscal year, and $186 million over a 10-year period through its consolidating operations, “at this time it is unclear if the Postal Service will realize the expected savings associated with consolidating operations into the Richmond [distribution center],” as work hours and overtime went up after the center opened.
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