Recent service delays impact seniors, small businesses; Senators call for improved transparency
WASHINGTON – Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly asked the U.S. Postmaster General about ongoing issues in Arizona with repeated and severe mail delays. Sinema and Kelly called for improved transparency from the U.S. Postal Service and urged timely delivery of mail and packages to Arizonans.
“It is your duty, first and foremost, to protect service and ensure timely mail delivery for every person in this nation. We demand that you not make additional changes that will harm service for the American people. In addition, we urge you to be fully transparent with the public about Postal Service operations and the reasons they are still facing delays,” wrote the Senators.
In 2020, the Postmaster General implemented a series of operational changes, resulting in delayed mail for Arizona veterans, seniors, and others who depend on mail for prescription medications, packages for small businesses, and other critical needs. The nonpartisan U.S. Postal Service Inspector General confirmed these changes resulted in severe widespread delays.
The Postmaster General later announced he was reversing those operational changes. However, both Senators continued to hear directly from Arizonans—including U.S. Postal Service employees—about missed paychecks and court notices, delayed prescriptions, an inability for small businesses to reach customers, and lost rent payments.
Last year, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing, Sinema questioned the U.S. Postmaster General about the importance of preventing consolidations and closures of postal processing plants in Arizona, and the need to ensure Arizona’s mail, including ballots, is processed in a timely and efficient manner.
Click HERE to read the letter.