[Senate Hearing 117-485]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-485
REVIEW OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2022 BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE USPS OFFICE OF
INSPECTOR GENERAL AND USPS SERVICE ISSUES
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SPECIAL HEARING
JULY 13, 2021--WASHINGTON, DC
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
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Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
39-104 WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman
PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama, Vice
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California Chairman
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
JACK REED, Rhode Island SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JON TESTER, Montana LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon ROY BLUNT, Missouri
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware JERRY MORAN, Kansas
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
JOE MANCHIN, III, West Virginia Virginia
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
MARCO RUBIO, Florida
Charles E. Kieffer, Staff Director
Shannon Hutcherson Hines, Minority Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Ranking Member
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JERRY MORAN, Kansas
JOE MANCHIN, III, West Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont, JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
(ex officio) RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama,
(ex officio)
Professional Staff
Ellen Murray
Diana Gourlay Hamilton
Reeves Hart
Andrew Newton (Minority)
Alley Adcock (Minority)
Administrative Support
Teri Curtin
Sydney Crawford (Minority)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Opening Statement of Chairman Chris Van Hollen................... 1
Opening Statement of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.................... 2
Statement of Hon. Tammy L. Whitcomb, Inspector General, United
States Postal Service.......................................... 4
Prepared Statement of........................................ 6
OIG Budget History....................................... 7
Our Work................................................. 7
USPS OIG Has Made Significant Progress in Combatting
Narcotics (Narcotic Cases by Year)..................... 8
USPS--On Time Service.................................... 9
Service Performance by:
Postal District/Division......................... 9
Fiscal Quarter................................... 9
Our Budget............................................... 10
Overview of Service Issues............................... 11
Ongoing OIG Service-Related Work......................... 12
Electric Vehicles........................................ 12
Operational Changes.............................................. 14
Service:
Performance Dashboard........................................ 15
Challenges................................................... 15
Transparency and Accountability.................................. 16
Use of Data Analytics............................................ 16
Reports and Recommendations...................................... 17
Mail Delays...................................................... 17
Oversight of Network Changes..................................... 19
Non-Bank Financial Services...................................... 20
Organizational Changes........................................... 21
Drug Interdiction................................................ 21
Postal Service's 10-Year Plan.................................... 22
Oversight of 10-Year Plan........................................ 23
Electric Vehicles................................................ 23
Postal Reform.................................................... 24
Prepared Statement of Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger....... 25
Statement of Ms. Rania Dima, Member, National Federation of the
Blind.......................................................... 26
Prepared Statement of........................................ 28
My USPS Experience....................................... 29
Resolution 2021-05: Regarding Mail Problems that
Interfere with NLS Services............................ 30
Statement of Ms. Karen Meyers, Small Business Owner, City of
Baltimore, Maryland............................................ 31
Prepared Statement of........................................ 32
Statement of Mr. Brian McLaurin, Motor Vehicle Services Craft
Director, American Postal Workers Union, Nation's Capital
Southern Maryland Area, Local 140.............................. 33
Prepared Statement of........................................ 35
Additional Committee Questions (Note: Questions were submitted to
the Postal Service, but responses never received).............. 40
Questions Submitted to Ms. Tammy L. Whitcomb, Inspector
General of the United States Postal Service................ 40
Questions Submitted by:......................................
Chairman Senator Chris Van Hollen........................ 40
Senator Patrick Leahy.................................... 41
Senator Joe Manchin, III................................. 41
Narcotics............................................ 41
Sorting Machines..................................... 42
6-Day-A-Week Mail Delivery........................... 42
Vehicle Maintenance Facilities....................... 42
FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2022
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TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 2:06 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Chris Van Hollen (Chairman)
presiding.
Present: Senators Van Hollen, Coons, Hyde-Smith, Moran, and
Boozman.
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
opening statement of chairman chris van hollen
Senator Van Hollen. This subcommittee will come to order.
And welcome, everybody.
Senator Hyde-Smith will be joining us momentarily. But I
will start with an opening statement, and then I will turn it
over to Senator Hyde-Smith, and then turn it over to our
witness, the Inspector General from the Postal Service.
So I want to welcome Ms. Tammy Whitcomb, the Inspector
General of the United States Post Office, who is going to
testify today on the Office's fiscal year 2022 budget request.
I also want to welcome the members of our second panel for
today's hearing, who will discuss some of the service delivery
issues they have encountered with the Post Office.
They are Rania Dima, a member of the National Federation of
the Blind; Brian McLaurin, a postal worker and member of the
American Postal Workers Union; and Karen Meyers, a small
business owner. Thank all of you for joining us today.
The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector
General is an independent oversight organization operating
within the Postal Service, while this subcommittee appropriates
funds for the Postal IG, the funds appropriated come from the
United States Post Office and not from the United States
Treasury.
The Postal IG is requesting an appropriation of $263
million for fiscal year 2022, an increase of $13 million over
fiscal year 2021. But I would like to note that the Postal
Inspector General returns nearly $30 for each dollar
appropriated, and these funds will go towards supporting the
good work already happening in the Inspector General's Office.
Among its recent projects, the inspector general has worked
to investigate the role that the Postal Service may play in the
distribution of narcotics and its impact on our Nation's opioid
pandemic from those who were using--exploiting our Postal
Service for that purpose. And I want to commend the inspector
general for her leadership in that effort.
Beyond this topic, the Postal IG focuses much of its work
on service issues, an area of key importance to all of our
constituents around the country, and one that we will discuss
in much more detail today with both our panels. For the last
year, I have been hearing from thousands of constituents,
thousands, about the slow postal delivery, and I share their
frustration and their anger at this unacceptable situation.
Medical shipments have gone missing, many small businesses
cannot get their products to customers, and people are getting
hit with late fees for bill payments that did not arrive on
time because of mail delivery delays.
The situation is doubly frustrating because the Congress,
on a bipartisan basis, allocated additional $10 billion to the
Postal Service to help meet its needs during the pandemic. And
that money must be put to use restoring services that the
American people deserve and have come to expect from the
dedicated men and women of the Postal Service.
We have made some progress, and I want to commend the
Postal Inspector General for dedicating a web page for tracking
and monitoring service performance. It is a very important tool
in our efforts to revive the United States Postal Service, and
has revealed serious gaps across service. In particular, I want
to note that the Baltimore District in my State of Maryland has
seen the worst performance in the country for three of the four
categories shown on the online dashboard.
Fortunately, performance has improved somewhat according to
recent data provided by the Postal Service, both nationally and
in Maryland. But Marylanders, and I know others around the
country, continue to experience some of the worst service that
we have seen. We have a lot of work to do, and I hope today's
hearing will highlight some of the ways we can take towards
strengthening service across the country.
With that, I want to end where I began, by thanking all of
you for coming here today to share your perspectives on these
issues. And before we begin I want to turn it over to my
colleague, Ranking Member, Senator Hyde-Smith, for her opening
statement.
opening statement of senator cindy hyde-smith
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I, too,
welcome Ms. Whitcomb. I look forward to the hearing from you
today, as well as the second panel. We are here to examine the
fiscal year 2022 budget request for the Office of Inspector
General of the United States Postal Service, and to examine
service issues. Inspectors general serve as independent
watchdogs within government agencies and are a very critical
resource for Congress and for American taxpayers.
The footprint of the Postal Service means that the
inspector general has a particularly far-reaching purview and
is tasked with overseeing the organization and the operations
of the Postal Service. You have got a big job, and we are glad
you are there to do it. Your work is critical and examines some
more obvious issues such as customer experience and contract
fraud, but also other programs such as narcotics interdictions.
The Office Inspector General's Narcotics Program focuses on
possession and distribution of illicit drugs by postal
employees and customers.
Inspector general Whitcomb, I look forward to hearing from
you about the successes of this program, and the many good
things that your office is doing.
The budget request for the United States Postal Service is
$263 million. This represents a $13 million increase over the
fiscal year 2021 enacted level. The majority of which will be
dedicated to personnel increases.
Currently, there is just one OIG employee to 637 postal
workers, yet the return on investment of the Postal Service
Office of Inspector General is $30 to $1. I look forward to
hearing more about how the proposed budget increase will
benefit your operations, postal customers, and the taxpayers.
This hearing will also address the service issues experienced
by postal customers. My offices frequently work with
constituents to address reoccurring problems. I know you have
heard this from many, many members about lost mail, ineffective
tracking data, and general unresponsiveness.
For instance, this May, a Regional Postal Service employee
indicated to my staff that there were 37 completed passports
awaiting distribution that were lost, or otherwise unaccounted
for in the Memphis processing facility. In one case, this
mismanagement resulted in a constituent missing his trip
because his passport was held in the postal facility for days,
and they just simply couldn't find it. We have also had similar
problems with the delivery of Social Security Disability
checks.
I look forward to hearing from you on the causes of the
service disruptions, and what the Postal Service can do to
remedy these problems experienced by our constituents. So, I am
glad that you are here. Thank you.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Senator. And now I am going
to briefly introduce Inspector General Whitcomb before turning
it over to her for an opening statement.
Ms. Whitcomb was appointed as the third inspector general
of the United States Postal Service in November 2018. Prior to
that appointment Ms. Whitcomb had served as both deputy
inspector general and assistant inspector general for Audit at
the United States Postal Service. She came to the Postal
Service in 2005 as audit director. Ms. Whitcomb started her
government career at the IRS Inspection Service, and
transitioned to the Office of the Treasury Inspector General
for Tax Administration when it was established in 1999.
Inspector General, without objection, your full written
testimony will be entered in the record. Thank you for joining
us. And I ask that you, please, summarize your opening
statement in approximately 5 to 6 minutes. I turn it over to
you.
STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY L. WHITCOMB, INSPECTOR GENERAL,
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
Ms. Whitcomb. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Van
Hollen, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, and Members of the
subcommittee. Thank you for having me here today to discuss our
budget and ongoing work to address the Postal Service's
delivery and service performance issues.
Our mission, to ensure the efficiency, accountability and
integrity of our Nation's Postal Service, is something we take
very seriously. While we receive our appropriation from
Congress, the annual funding that enables us to do our work
comes from the Postal Service, not the U.S. Treasury. We are
one of the leanest IG offices, with about one OIG employee for
every 640 Postal Service employees. Even with those limited
resources, in fiscal year 2020 we returned nearly $30 in impact
for every dollar invested in our budget.
Over the past 10 years, our budget has not grown
meaningfully and has not kept up with rising costs, including
mandated increases to salary and FERS employer contribution
rates. Without additional funding to support these increases,
we have had to reduce the number of FTEs available to support
our work by nearly 16 percent since 2012. Because of this we
have had less capacity to focus on even the highest priority
work.
Our oversight is vital to ensuring the American public has
an efficient Postal Service. We provide the Postal Service
valuable insights into areas where it can save money, improve
operations, and better serve postal customers. We have numerous
projects related to broad service issues, as well as in
specific locations where we have received complaints. We have
an entire team dedicated to examining delivery delays around
the country, including in Chicago, Kansas City and Baltimore.
Another team is focusing on delayed mail at postal
processing centers, and it has uncovered issues with how
delayed mail is reported, making it difficult to determine the
causes of any delays. We are analyzing service performance
across the entire mail flow--processing, transportation, and
delivery--to identify where failures commonly occur. We are
evaluating the Postal Service's preparedness for the upcoming
holiday season and planning our work on the readiness for the
2022 mid-term elections.
We also conduct critical investigations of the trafficking
of opioids through the mail, healthcare and contract fraud, and
mail theft by postal employees and contractors. We leverage
data analytics to increase the transparency of postal data.
For example, we recently launched a webpage that features
an interactive map displaying quarterly data on the Postal
Service's performance around the country. Stakeholders have
reacted positively to this website, and we continue to look for
new ways to provide similar transparency.
The $263 million included in the President's budget is
based on our fiscal year 2022 budget submitted last fall. This
was before the Postal Service announced its plans to reduce
service standards and dramatically modify its network,
including moving mail from air to surface transportation. Large
network changes are complex in nature, and there is a risk that
implementation could result in regional or widespread service
issues.
Our work has revealed that when the Postal Service
implements network changes, it often has not been able to
realize the projected cost savings, even when service was
reduced. As a result of these concerns, we plan to request an
additional $17 million in our fiscal year 2023 budget to
increase the amount and timeliness of oversight. This
additional amount would allow us to form an audit group
dedicated to continuous monitoring of service across the Nation
and providing quick, service-focused reports.
We would build on the lessons learned last fall, when we
sent 500 OIG employees to over 2,000 postal facilities
nationwide to monitor election mail. Using an OIG-created app,
we were able to provide the Postal Service and Congress near
real-time data on our daily observations. This allowed the
Postal Service to quickly resolve any issues we identified,
such as ballots that had not been cleared.
While our effort was successful, it took significant
resources and resulted in other investigative and audit
projects being delayed or put on hold. Additional resources
would allow us to provide this type of near real-time
monitoring on a more frequent and national basis, as the Postal
Service implements network changes.
This monitoring would enable increased transparency
regarding service during the holiday mailing season and next
year's midterm elections. The sooner we get these funds, the
sooner we can build this capacity to provide more effective and
timely oversight. Because the Postal Service is moving quickly
to implement some of the network changes, it is critical that
our resources grow in tandem with these moves. Near real-time
monitoring and quick reports will allow the Postal Service to
promptly respond to the issues we identify, mitigating negative
impacts on postal customers.
The recent changes announced by the Postal Service are
likely just the beginning. As these changes progress, judicious
oversight is essential to ensuring timely, efficient, and
equitable mail service to all areas of the country.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our budget and our
work. I am happy to answer your questions.
[The statement follows:]
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Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Ms. Whitcomb. And we are
going to have 6-minute questioning rounds. And I know we will
get to the issue of your opinion on some of the postal reform
legislation that has been proposed here in Congress on a
bipartisan basis.
OPERATIONAL CHANGES
But first I would like to go over the report that you
issued recently that got to some of the reasons for postal
delays. In your report you indicated that the changes--and in
your testimony--that the changes made when the new Postmaster
General came in, negatively impacted the quality and timeliness
of mail delivery. Could you briefly discuss which of these
changes were responsible for some of the service problems that
our constituents experienced?
Ms. Whitcomb. Sure. It was right around the time that the
COVID issues started really peaking at the Postal Service, and
the new Postmaster General came in and wanted to address late
trucks and extra trips. And so he made some changes to stop
those late trips and extra trips, in addition to numerous
changes that the postal executive team put in place to, in some
cases, address efficiency issues that had been ongoing for a
long period of time.
When you combined the 50 or so changes that the postal
executive team instituted along with some of the larger,
broader changes that the Postmaster General brought in,
particularly around late and extra trips, this had a really
significant impact on service because it was happening along
with employee availability issues, and an increased number of
packages in the mail because of COVID. So all of that kind of
happened all around the same time, and you saw the service
implications last summer as those changes were put in place.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you. And thank you for
having detailed that, and done that analysis. As I looked at
your report, it also says, and I quote, ``No analysis of the
service impacts of these various changes was conducted, and
documentation, and guidance to the field for these strategies
was very limited and almost exclusively oral;'' in other words,
not any guidance in writing. Can you talk about: how that
compounded the confusion and problem?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. What we saw, we went out to various
locations and we saw implementation of changes being done very
inconsistently around the country. Some locations they were--
the management team was saying there is no overtime. Some
locations they were saying no extra trips, no late trips, and
other locations they were saying they could do late trips and
extra trips depending on how severe the situation was.
So it was very inconsistently done, and there was no clear
document provided. And the Postal Service is a very large
organization, lots and lots of facilities that you have to roll
out guidance to when you are implementing change. And because
it was really done orally through meetings, and other things,
and no written document was provided, no written documentation
was provided to these field locations, you can imagine what
happened as change is rolled out to the various field
locations. It was done very inconsistently, and as a result no
clear guidance, and no clear direction was out there in the
field location. So service really suffered.
SERVICE PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD
Senator Van Hollen. Well, you mentioned the dashboard, and
I referred to it in my opening statement. I think it is a very
important transparency tool for all of us. And I hope we can
provide you some of those additional resources so that we can
get to a real-time dashboard. And my understanding from your
testimony is that if we can provide you those resources, you do
think you can get that real-time dashboard. Is that right?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes, definitely. The dashboard kind of, it is
data that points us in a direction, but you--the Postal Service
you have to kind of be out there. It is a very physical
business. You have to kind of go out and actually see what is
happening on the ground. It gives you--the dashboard gives you
indications of where problems occur, but if you--we really need
to have boots on the ground, people there in person to see what
is happening to cause the problems that are occurring.
SERVICE CHALLENGES
Senator Van Hollen. Well, and that brings me to my next
question, because, as I mentioned, and as you know, the
Baltimore District has really, among the worst mail performance
when it comes to delivery in the country. The Capital District
has the third worst performance in this area. And I know you
have not yet embarked on a detailed investigation of those
hotspots, you know, for poor delivery, but can you talk about
your plans for really looking under the hood there and
identifying exactly what is wrong?
Because as I said earlier, I certainly am getting lots of
incoming from constituents, I know my colleagues are to similar
degrees in some cases, and lesser in others. But can you talk
about your plans that can help us really drill down and
identify what is going wrong in these areas in particular?
Ms. Whitcomb. Definitely. We have a team that is ready.
They may have even actually done some field visits already in
Baltimore, looking at nine different delivery units in the
areas served to--that are especially challenged. And when we go
out, we look for the causes of those challenges, and we make
specific recommendations to the local management to address the
issues found.
In addition to that, one thing that we have seen as it
relates to service at the Postal Service, some of the places
where service was challenged prior to COVID, but that the
facilities, the processing plants were kind of barely above
water--they were providing service but it was not as good as
some of the other areas--are the places where service really
tanked when COVID hit, and when some of these changes were
implemented at the Postal Service.
Baltimore is one of those locations. Chicago is another one
of those locations. Some of the--New York is a third. Some of
those places we have decided to, in the early fall, we are
going to launch a targeted look at the 10 processing plants
that have been challenged for years, but were particularly hit
during the COVID pandemic, and where service really tanked. So
that we can get underneath the hood and really see what has
caused the problems for years, but really tanked during the
pandemic.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
Senator Van Hollen. Senator Hyde-Smith.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We
consistently hear about these delays, and these issues, and
these problems; mainly with Social Security checks, but I
recently heard from a constituent in Natchez, Mississippi, who
had to pay to reorder and resend nearly half the invitations to
a very large wedding. She called me, and she was pretty upset
about that. But, you know, anybody would be because they
wouldn't tell her anything, they wouldn't respond to her to see
if they were delayed or just lost.
We know the financial burdens that all of this creates on
many people. What are your investigations showing, or your
office's feeling about these specific problems, and how can we
have greater accountability from the Postal Service to prevent
these problems?
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. It is a great question. One of the
reasons that we took that public dataset that the Postal
Service had--the dataset that we used to build that service
performance dashboard was a dataset that had been provided to
the Postal Regulatory Commission for years. But it had never
been, I guess, visualized on a map the way that we took it and
visualized it. And we know in the IG community that
transparency sometimes leads to accountability.
And so we really wanted to take a dataset, make it more
transparent and accessible to the general public so that we
could make--help the Postal Service be more accountable to the
Americans that rely on it for service. In addition, obviously
we take our recommendations that we have made in the service
area very seriously and hold the Postal Service accountable to
taking action on those recommendations.
USE OF DATA ANALYTICS
Senator Hyde-Smith. And I understand that your Office
receives complaints and hotline data from customers and
employees. How does this data inform your investigative and
audit planning?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. That is a great question. One of the
things I am most excited about, we do a lot with data analytics
in our office, and one of the dashboards that I recently saw
demonstrated--demoed to me from our data analytics staff--was a
dashboard on customer complaints. The Postal Service receives
thousands of customer complaints every day. We receive about
150,000 hotlines every year.
So we have used our data analytics to build a dashboard to
pull in all of the complaints, both from our hotline, as well
as from the Postal Service's customer complaint system. And I
don't know if you are familiar, they have an application, the
Postal Service does, it is called ``Informed Delivery'' where
you can see the mail that is supposed to be in your mailbox
that day.
Senator Hyde-Smith. I have it right here on my phone.
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. Yes. And so you can click if you did not
receive a piece of mail that you were supposed to receive. So
our dashboard also takes in all of those complaints that come
in where mail that was supposed to be received wasn't actually
received. We take all of that information in, and then we can
analyze it. Look for trends, look for hotspots, look for places
almost in real time where you can see where there are problems
in the postal network, where people are complaining, where they
are not receiving the mail that they are supposed to receive.
Maybe you can even see, to some degree, routes that might
not have been delivered or fully delivered that day. So it is a
very exciting tool. And we look--that is another place, in
addition to our service performance dashboard and other
dashboards that we have, that we can target resources almost in
real time, if we can get them to actually put people on the
ground to go out and see where the hotspots are and what is
causing the problems as we see them in the data.
REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Senator Hyde-Smith. And how do you communicate your
findings to the Postal Service?
Ms. Whitcomb. Right. In those cases, we will issue reports
to them, in some cases we will issue memorandums, or we will
actually go out and send teams to go out and see what the
causes of those problems are. And then we will issue actual
audit reports with recommendations to them that they will have
to be responsible to take action on. And those open
recommendations are also available on our website as well. The
recommendations we have made.
Senator Hyde-Smith. And how often are your recommendations
actually implemented by the Postal Service?
Ms. Whitcomb. Most of the time. And actually, oftentimes
people they will--they might see a report where it might be at
odds with the Postal Service, but we have a pretty high
agreement rate with them on the recommendations that we make.
We are right around 90 percent, or so, that they agree with.
And then they can't close the recommendation until we agree
that they have taken action on it. So we have a pretty strong
accountability process with our recommendations.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Senator.
I am now going to turn it over to Senator Coons for
questioning, and to chair while I go vote. And you are in good
hands as he is a former chairman of the subcommittee. Thank
you, Senator.
Senator Coons. Thank you, Chairman Van Hollen. Thank you,
Ranking Member Hyde-Smith for holding this hearing.
And I want to thank you, Inspector General Whitcomb, and we
have a panel of other witnesses to follow you. I am gravely
concerned about the service delivery standards of the U.S.
Postal Service and the intended significant realignment of the
Postal Service that you were just describing.
MAIL DELAYS
So let us start by looking backwards, and then by looking
forwards. Mail delays have been one of the top issues that have
caused Delawareans to call me in my office, to email, to text,
to write. And often those letters are delayed in getting to my
office. I am from a small State of about 900,000 people. I have
gotten 3,500 messages in the last year, 3,500 messages in the
last year, complaining about delays in postal delivery.
I have gotten complaints from veterans who weren't getting
their medications in the mail. I have gotten complaints from
small businesses that weren't getting a payment checks into
them, or weren't able to get services out. I have gotten
complaints from just families who didn't get birthday cards
from grandma to their grandchild, or notices about things that
they needed to get to on time.
So I am sure you have heard that. I suspect every single
Member of Congress has heard that, but I want to dig in just a
little bit if we can. I was proud to vote for the President's
three Board of Governors nominees, and I am hopeful they can
have a real impact on restoring service delivery standards. And
I think we are not done making changes to the leadership of the
Postal Service.
I have signed seven letters about the impact of Postal
Service delivery on farmers, on small business owners, on
everyday individuals in Delaware. Five of them have been
responded to. Two of them, so far, have not.
I would be interested in your view on exactly why delays
have continued so long after the holiday season. I understand
the pandemic contributed to some, the holiday season
contributed to some, the election contributed to some, but some
of them are the inevitable outcome of a poorly-executed series
of strategic changes.
You were just testifying that some of the basic policy
changes were never conveyed in writing to a very large and
distributed nationwide organization. What do you think are the
critical reasons my State, and so many others, have suffered
through needless and long delivery delays?
Ms. Whitcomb. It is a complicated network. And I agree with
you, change at the Postal Service is very difficult to
implement well. We have looked at the changes that were there
last year; we looked at changes that were implemented back in
2015 to look to see what service impacts were there. What we
saw, and probably the most critical thing that we saw in that
report, and Chairman Van Hollen mentioned earlier, was that no
service impact analysis was done prior to the initiation of
some of the changes.
And that was a key recommendation that we made in that
report is prior to service changes, service impact--prior to
changes in the network, service really needs to be analyzed to
see what the impacts of those changes would be.
So that is part of it. In fairness to the Postal Service,
employee availability continues to be an issue in many sites,
and as employees are still on leave, are still dealing with the
challenges of COVID, it is a difficult situation with the
Postal Service, when the Postal Service has been one of those
places that had been generally resilient when a natural
disaster occurs.
They can usually come in and pretty--recover pretty quickly
in the event of a natural disaster that is localized. COVID
really hit them in all the weak spots. Because it was national
they couldn't move employees from one location to another to
deal with issues. They didn't have the employee bench strength.
It is a very brute force kind of organization and it relies on
its employees. And when those employees aren't there, it is
very hard to recover in certain locations because--from service
issues.
It also, I think, is certain plants, and certain locations,
as I said earlier, that had been troubled for long periods of
time, really, really struggled in the past year.
Senator Coons. One particular complaint I just got last
weekend was from the Cape Gazette, a local newspaper in Sussex
County, Delaware, that delivers by mail copies of their regular
periodical. And they have noticed over the last year just
dramatic delays in handling, and they have gotten complaints,
they have gone and visited different postal handling
facilities. And they have been struck at the extent to which,
because it is technically second-class mail, although
newspapers have been a critical part of our country since its
founding; they are just not getting the same attention. Have
you heard similar complaints about newspapers and how they are
handled in the mail?
Ms. Whitcomb. We haven't heard specifically about
newspapers. We have heard, more generally, about just mail in
general, and challenges just getting through some of the
processing plants, and some of the plants have recovered better
than others, but some of the plants are still very challenged.
OVERSIGHT OF NETWORK CHANGES
Senator Coons. I was really struck, in your written
testimony, and I am just going to quote back to you for a
minute that: There are significant structural reforms planned.
Changes that you describe as complex and difficult, you said
there is a risk implementation could result in regional or
widespread service issues, more service issues, and that
historically when the Postal Service implements network
changes, it has not always been able to improve service or
realize projected cost savings.
You ask for $17 million more in order to stay on top of and
ahead of these changes. And I hope we will work together to
deliver those resources to the IG. These sound like significant
realignments, building $9 billion worth of new equipment, new
facilities, realigning mail volume from air to surface
transportation, and a dramatic change in footprints, and where,
and how, and when things are handled.
You mentioned a moment ago that no service delivery impact
analysis was done before the current Postmaster General
implemented haphazard policy changes last year. Would it be
your advice that there has to be service delivery impact
analysis done before these major restructurings are undertaken?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. Yes.
Senator Coons. Let me just ask, in close. What other plans
do you have for overseeing these ambitious reform plans that
the Postal Service has underway as a result of their 10-year
plan?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. Great question. We are just launching
our first look into the 10-year plan. And some of the things
that we are looking at are: how they are going to measure
success of the plan; what are some of the dependencies on the
different parts of the plan that are dependent on each other;
what service impact issues could result as they start
implementing some of these changes?
We are also looking at things like: Do they have triggers,
or tripwires, if they start implementing it and something goes
wrong that they can roll back or pull back? And what are those?
And how are those established? Things like that, because those,
I think, are very important as they go in. One last thing that
we will be looking at is the assumptions that they built the
plan on, kind of what assumptions were there, and if those
change moving forward, how might the plan change?
Senator Coons. Well, I appreciate your dedication and work,
and the role that the IG plays. There is an awful lot of
Delawareans who are very angry and very upset about service
delivery changes in the Postal Service. And I am going to do my
level best, working with the Chair and Ranking Member, to make
sure that the resources are there so that we have real-time
insights into how they are or are not making positive
improvements on delivery standards. Thank you, Ms. Whitcomb.
I will turn it over to Senator Boozman.
Ms. Whitcomb. Thank you.
Senator Boozman. Thank you.
And thank you, Inspector General Whitcomb for being here,
and all of your hard work in the past.
NON-BANK FINANCIAL SERVICES
Congress has, through the appropriations process, proposed
to expand the Postal Service's limited non-bank financial
services to surcharge ATM's, wire transfers, check cashing and
bill payment. While increasing financial inclusion across the
country is essential, especially in rural America, allowing the
Postal Service to provide banking services would raise
regulatory questions and concerns, erode consumer protections
afforded by regulated financial institutions and far exceed the
Postal Service's core competencies.
In fact, the Postal Service has agreed that its core
function is, ``Delivery, not banking.'' Its mission is to
provide, ``Trusted, affordable universal mail service,'' and
that the Postal Service should not, ``Become a bank or openly
compete with banks.'' Nationalizing retail banking like this
would fail to address the reasons why some households remain
unbanked and underbanked, have limited impact on long-term
wealth building potential of unbanked Americans, and would fail
to support consumers' full menu of evolving financial needs.
And I'm particularly concerned that a government-subsidized
entity entering the consumer financial market would put
taxpayers at risk; safe banking requires experience in risk
management, and regulatory compliance, consumer and privacy
protection, loan underwriting, deposit safeguarding, fund
account management, direct deposit account management, and
digital and mobile banking; all areas in which the Postal
Service has little to no expertise.
Given this lack of experience, taxpayer risk and focus on
mail delivery, not banking, the Postal Service is not equipped
to provide banking services more effectively, in a safer manner
than the highly regulated institutions with decades of
experience in these areas. I guess what I would like to know:
is if you agree with that, or if that is something that you
don't agree with, or going down that path.
Ms. Whitcomb. We haven't done--we did some work a few years
back on non-bank financial services. We haven't done much work
recently. Our work has been more focused on the physical
footprint, and the foot traffic that comes through the retail
network, and using maybe that foot traffic to provide other
government--governmental type services, maybe services for
State and local governments, other things like that at this
point, versus expanding more broadly.
The Postal Service may decide to do something different and
look into that. And if they do, we will be there to provide
oversight of those activities, if that is something that they
move into.
Senator Boozman. Good. Thank you.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES
Senator Boozman. Last year the Postal Service announced
organizational changes, including consolidation of the existing
67 Postal Service districts to 50 districts. I can appreciate
the Postal Service efforts to improve efficiency and better
serve customers. I agree with, Senator Coons, you know, we have
got significant problems out there with our service. I am
concerned that as result of these mergers current employees
will be forced to either relocate or find employment elsewhere.
And then certainly as important, maybe even more important,
that it would impact the ability as far as getting our mail
delivered in a timely fashion. I'm particularly concerned that
Arkansans employed in the Arkansas District Office would have
to face the choice between relocating out of State or losing
their employment.
How would the Postal Service organizational changes impact
the Postal Service employment specifically in the case of
States like ours? And can you commit to ensuring that these
employees will not be disadvantaged or negatively impacted by
these changes?
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. That is a great question. We haven't
done a lot of work yet in that--in the reorganization, the
redistricting, or moving around the districts of the Postal
Service. It is probably something that we will look into a
little bit more moving forward. I am not sure how that might
impact service moving forward, or employees. And probably it
depends on where those employees are located, but, as you said,
in certain locations, they are probably more disadvantaged than
in others. But it is likely something that we will look at
moving forward. We don't have anything going on right now in
that space.
Senator Boozman. Thank you. I would appreciate it.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
DRUG INTERDICTION
Senator Boozman. One thing I would like to kind of get an
update, very quickly, because I am running out of time. But we
have had a real problem with fentanyl, things like that, coming
in through the mail. And I know that in the past I had the
opportunity to chair the Homeland Security Appropriations
Subcommittee, not too long ago, a couple of congresses ago.
There was a problem with the Postal Service and customs
working together, all of those, this is a huge problem. Can you
just, very quickly, tell us where we are at on that? Is the
cooperation better? Are we doing a better job interdicting this
stuff?
Ms. Whitcomb. The cooperation is improving. The advanced
electronic data is still not always there for all of the
parcels that are coming in from overseas. But, again, those
percentages are moving higher. We are doing some work
internally overseeing the percentages of AED that come in from
other countries, and identifying countries that might be more
challenged providing AED than others, but it is definitely an
issue that we should all keep our eyes on, as well as, just
generally, use of the Postal Service to move narcotics
domestically, not just internationally. It is a big problem and
something that we are investigating consistently in our work.
Senator Boozman. Good. Thank you for your efforts.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Senator Boozman.
Senator Moran.
Senator Moran. Chairman, thank you.
Ms. Whitcomb, thank you for being here. I have been
involved in, I think, about every postal reform legislation and
efforts since I came to the Senate, mostly aligned with Senator
Carper, and my sadness is, I am not sure you are the right
witness for the kind of questions I would like to ask today.
But I am pleased that you are here. And maybe you can help me,
if nothing else, to highlight, in hopes that the Postal Service
officials are observing, listening, or will read the transcript
of this hearing.
POSTAL SERVICE'S 10-YEAR PLAN
One of the things that is directly related to your
testimony, you stated that implementation of that Postal
Service's 10-year plan might result in regional or widespread
service issues. I am worried the negative consequences to rural
America. Kansas is one of those places that would certainly be
considered rural. And we have already seen, I have heard you
speak, and my colleagues speak about processing centers.
We lost our processing centers before the congressional
prohibition against closing those processing centers. I don't
know whether there is a way to ever get them back, but the
consequences to the mail delivery has been dramatic and
dramatic in a negative way. I am interested in knowing: Does
the Postal Service have a plan in place to ensure that rural
communities are not disproportionately impacted during the
implementation of that 10-year plan?
Ms. Whitcomb. I really appreciate that question. As you can
hear from my accent, I am not from this city either, so I have
a special place in my heart for rural America, especially the
value proposition that the Postal Service provides to rural
Americans, it is a very important thing. We have done a lot of
research in the past and we have several papers that we have
issued about that issue itself, about rural America and the
Postal Service, and the importance there.
I am not aware of a plan that the Postal Service has to
protect rural America as it implements change, but I don't--I
don't know that they don't have one. So it is something that we
will definitely look into as this--as this plan moves forward,
because I think it is a very, very important part of the Postal
Service's service to America.
Senator Moran. Maybe you were the right person to address
my comments, at least to my question two. One of the other
things I am worried about is postal rate increases. The postal
rate increase proposed in the Ten-Year Delivering for America
Plan have caused concern to the postal industry, especially as
the country is in a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. I am
interested in hearing your thoughts on the accuracy of the 10
years' plan--the 10-year plan's financial projections.
If the projections are questionable, it would seem
advisable for the Postal Regulatory Commission should do
another review of rate limit increase to incorporate impact of
the pandemic, previous emergency funding from Congress, the
impact of potential postal reform legislation, taking those
factors into account might substantially change the liabilities
of the postal rate commission used in calculating the recently
extended cap.
OVERSIGHT OF 10-YEAR PLAN
Has the OIG reviewed the projections from the USPS Delivery
for America proposal to determine their accuracy?
Ms. Whitcomb. No. But that is something that we want to do
as part of our review of the 10-year plan. We want to look at
the assumptions, and the projections that were made as a part
of that. I talked earlier about kind of triggers, and looking
at if things change, is the plan flexible enough to move with
those changes? That is part of what we will be looking at as we
review that plan. And we have started that work, or we are just
getting started with that work, probably have something in
about six or 8 months on that.
Senator Moran. Let me use this opportunity to highlight. I
appreciate that answer. And let me use this opportunity to
highlight some of the things, at least I think all of the
things that I mentioned in that list are things that have
occurred subsequent to the evaluation that has been made to
base the rate commission decision on.
And particularly the amount of assistance from the COVID-19
relief packages, but also the COVID-19 itself, the pandemic,
seems to me to be something that should be considered before
they make the changes that are envisioned. I would just
highlight for you one other thing, but knowing your accent and
your further--your earlier comments this may be self-evident to
you.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
The Postal Service plans to invest in 165,000 updated
vehicles over the next 10 years, and a portion of those
vehicles, as you mentioned, are to be electric. I have heard
from rural mail carriers in my State who are concerned that
electric vehicles without four wheel drive will not be able to
handle the rural routes, especially during bad weather.
Additionally, in rural America, there are very few electric
charging stations or necessary dealerships to get proper
maintenance on those electric vehicles.
As the Postal Service begins transitioning to an updated
fleet, will such logistical concerns be part of the
decisionmaking process to determine the proper location for
those electric vehicles? I also would use this as an
opportunity to highlight the opportunity to use natural gas or
renewable natural gas, not solely electricity.
Ms. Whitcomb. Yes. That is a--it is a great question. We
just started an audit on electric vehicles. We have done some
work in the past. We did our first job in 2009 and looked at
opportunities to use electric vehicles in the Postal Service
fleet. We updated that, we did some work in 2012, but we are
going to update all of that work with this recent thing. One of
the things that we will be looking at is the Postal Service's
analysis to determine whether they evaluated where electric
vehicles make sense, and where they might not make sense.
Senator Moran. Thank you for all your answers.
Ms. Whitcomb. Mm-hmm.
Senator Moran. And I appreciate the work of inspector
generals, generally. And you impressed me today. Thank you.
Ms. Whitcomb. Thank you.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Senator Moran.
POSTAL REFORM
I just have one closing question as we talked about the
problems that brought us to this point. I want to talk about a
piece of legislation that has been introduced. My colleague,
Senator Peters from Michigan, has introduced the Postal Service
Reform Act to make long overdue changes, to stabilize the
Postal Service's finances, and increase transparency and
accountability at the Postal Service. This is broad bipartisan
legislation, and the American people deserve this to be
implemented as soon as possible, in my opinion.
One of the provisions of this bill would eliminate the
requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund healthcare
benefits for its retirees, which has caused a big burden and
drain on Postal Service finances. Could you talk a little bit
about your views on this legislation, and how that provision,
in particular, might help relieve the burden on the Post
Office?
Ms. Whitcomb. Definitely. We have done work in the past
that looks at that pre-funding issue, and kind of benchmarked
against others that have--provide retiree--healthcare to
retirees, and found that the Postal Service's pre-funding
requirement is like no other. It has requirements that no one
else has to meet. And we also compared funding levels with
others: Military, State, Fortune 1000 companies, and found that
the Postal Service, in 2017 at least, had greater funding of
healthcare benefits by percentage than any of the others.
So our work, basically, supports reform in the pre-funding
area. Also, we have done work on Medicare integration, and
found that the savings associated with Medicare integration are
substantial, and could make a significant, significant
difference. Another provision of that reform legislation
involves allowing the Postal Service to provide additional
services through its retail facilities.
And that is something we have also done work on in the
past; looking at opportunities to utilize the foot traffic that
comes through the Postal Service's retail network to provide
additional revenue for the Postal Service. So generally our
work has been pretty supportive of some of the provisions that
are included in the Postal Reform Legislation.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you. I want to thank you,
Inspector General Whitcomb, for your testimony today. I thought
it was very enlightening and provided, I think, important
questions for the subcommittee to pursue. So thank you for the
good work that you have been doing there.
And I guess we will now adjourn this portion and move to
the second panel. But thank you so much.
Ms. Whitcomb. Thank you for the opportunity.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you. All right; if I could call
up the witnesses who were scheduled to testify on the second
panel. If you just could come forward to the dais there.
[Pause.]
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank all of you for joining us
today. I thought it was important we start with an overview
from the inspector general for the Postal Service, but now I
think it is important to get some first-hand accounts of the
problems people in small businesses are experiencing a result
of the long delays in Postal Service, and it has been
especially acute in Maryland, especially in places like
Baltimore City, but other places across our State, and indeed
around the country.
And I do want to say, on behalf of other members of the
Maryland delegation, they have joined me in expressing
frustration, also try to get to the bottom of this problem, and
we have been able to get some assistance from the first-hand
accounts that you will bring to the subcommittee today.
I do want to say that Congressmen ``Dutch'' Ruppersberger,
in particular, has been focused on these issues in the
Baltimore area. He was not able to attend the hearing today,
but he has submitted testimony for the record. And I want to
acknowledge that, and his efforts along with other members of
the delegation.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
Good afternoon Chairman Van Hollen, Ranking Member Hyde-Smith, and
Members of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.
I appreciate the opportunity to submit this testimony as you conduct
your hearing on the important work of the U.S. Postal Service Office of
Inspector General (OIG).
Over the past 16 months, my office has received a record number of
complaints from constituents regarding postal service. I have heard
from constituents who have gone weeks without receiving mail--including
paychecks and, even worse, life-saving prescriptions. The USPS was
never intended to be a business. It is a service and it is unacceptable
that my constituents are not receiving vital medications, bills and
other important letters in a timely and consistent manner.
As you know, the USPS is an independent agency under the Executive
Branch--they are not funded by Congress, nor do they answer to
Congress. So, while options are extremely limited, my office and I have
adopted an ``all of the above'' strategy to deal with the volume of
complaints.
I have personally visited problematic post offices in my district.
I have held press conferences. I have been meeting with local USPS
leadership on a biweekly basis. I have sent multiple letters outlining
the severity of mail delivery delays plaguing constituents in my
district to Postmaster General Dejoy. The Postmaster General has thus
far failed to address a single issue outlined in my letters and has
ignored my request for data and a meeting with a member of his staff.
Instead, I received a response from a government relations
representative that contained a litany of excuses, finger-pointing and
faulty logic that failed to address why there is such a disparity of
service levels across the country, within the State of Maryland and
throughout my district.
And so, with my hand forced, I recently requested the USPS
Inspector General begin an audit of the six most-problematic post
offices in my district--the locations where complaints are most severe
both in terms of volume and severity.
I strongly believe the work of the USPS Inspector General in
ensuring efficiency, accountability and integrity within the U.S.
Postal Service cannot be understated. This is true always, but
especially in light of the mail delays and wholly inadequate responses
that my office and, I assume, many other Members of Congress are
experiencing from USPS leadership.
Given this, I have no doubt that the OIG is today facing an
unprecedented increase in audit requests that has stretched staff and
resources thin. As an Appropriator, I supported a $13 million increase
for the USPS-OIG for the 2022 fiscal year in the Financial Services and
General Government Funding bill that cleared our committee late last
month. I would urge my Senate colleagues to consider a similar increase
so that the OIG can continue its important work.
It is my hope that the transparency and accountability provided
only by the OIG can help put the USPS back on a sustainable path and
restore mail service to the level our constituents deserve.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.
Senator Van Hollen. We are joined now by two postal
customers and one postal worker from Maryland who can help
provide insight into how service delays are impacting the
public.
We have Ms. Rania Dima, [Ran-ia] Dima with us, who is a
member of the National Federation of the Blind, and a resident
of Frederick, Maryland, who receives materials through the
United States Post Office, Free Matter for the Blind Program,
and from the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print
Disabled.
We also are joined by Mr. Brian McLaurin, who is a postal
worker from Forest Heights, Maryland, who has continued to
deliver mail throughout this pandemic, and has witnessed first-
hand the challenges that were implemented by the leadership of
the Postal Service that we just heard about.
We also are joined by Ms. Karen Meyers, a small business
owner and resident of Baltimore, Maryland, whose business and
broader community have been impacted by USPS delays.
So thank all of you for joining us. And why don't we just
start with the two customers. And then we are going to go to
the postal worker. And so why don't we start with Ms. Rania
Dima.
STATEMENT OF MS. RANIA DIMA, MEMBER, NATIONAL
FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Ms. Dima. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Van Hollen, for
having me here today. As you mentioned, my name is name is
Rania Dima. I live in Frederick County, Maryland.
Senator Van Hollen. Sorry. We are going to try to get the--
we are going to try and get the mic a little closer.
Ms. Dima. Okay. Thank you. Is this better?
Senator Van Hollen. Yes, much
Ms. Dima. Okay.
Senator Van Hollen. Thanks.
Ms. Dima. So thank you, Senator Van Hollen, for having me
here today. My name is Rania Dima. I live in Frederick County,
Maryland, and I am a member of the National Federation of the
Blind. I am a wife, a mother, and an aspiring author of
historical fiction. Born sighted, I am now going deaf and blind
from a condition called Usher syndrome.
Eight years ago I lost my ability to read print. And 2
years ago I lost my ability to read the computer screen, as a
lover of the written word it has been excruciating. But I have
a lot to adjust to. So I started learning the process of
Braille 2 years ago, actually a-year-and-a-half ago, and this
matter comes to me through the U.S. Postal Service as Free
Matter for the Blind. The delays that I have been experiencing
through this service, is not the same as what I am receiving
through my regular mail, and these prolonged delays have
impacted my ability to learn Braille.
Had these delays not happen, I would most likely be able to
read my statement to you today. But I can't. So I am going to
ask Sharon Maneki, a fellow member of the National Federation
of the Blind, to read my statement aloud on my behalf.
Ms. Maneki. Thank you, Rania.
''As an aspiring author, the intake of knowledge and
literature is important. And as a new Braille learner, getting
my hands on a steady supply of Braille is crucial. This
material is sent by Federal, State, and private agencies via
the U.S. Postal Service, USPS, as Free Matter for the Blind.
According to its website, this federally-funded postage is to
be treated as first-class mail. However, free reading matter
for the blind has long experienced delays.''
''Prior to COVID-19 delivery times ranged from one to two
weeks, post-pandemic they have increased from two--one to 2
months. While other mail has mostly returned to normal Free
Matter for the Blind has not. And these lengthy delays have
impeded my ability to learn Braille; when the Maryland Library
for the Blind and Print Disabled, LBPD, asked me to join the
Braille eReader Pilot Program, and I readily agreed.''
And Rania has the Braille display for you to see.
''The first device was sent out on October 21, 2020. It
should have arrived within a week. On November 10, a librarian
informed me that other patrons had also not received their mail
packages. And I was issued a replacement. It wasn't until
Christmastime that the two packages arrived together,
refreshable Braille displays are expensive. And I suddenly had
two in my possession. Because of my eReader connectivity issues
with the online services, I opted for a Braille book
cartridge.''
And Rania has one of them for you to see as well.
''The first was sent on April 12, 2021, was never delivered
and was returned to the library by USPS for unknown reasons.
LBPD sent another book cartridge on June 9. It came exactly 1
month later while regular mail from Baltimore reaches Frederick
within a few days. On behalf of the National library Service
for the Blind and Print Disabled Library of Congress, the
Gallup poll is surveying eReader participants at two- four- and
6-month intervals. Because of the original eReader was delayed,
it arrived just as the surveys began, and of the three, I could
only complete one survey. The Braille book cartridges came too
late for me to properly assess the eReader device.''
''Based on follow-up phone calls, I fear that I will time
out of this poll and the opportunity for feedback and funds
allocated for my participation in this pilot program will have
been wasted.''
''Mail delays have also affected Free Matter for the Blind
from other organizations. In March of 2020, the Maryland
Division of Rehabilitation Services ordered literacy books to
continue my Braille learning at home. These books did not
arrive until the summer, delaying my progress.''
''In the fall of 2020 I began virtual Braille instruction,
at the end of our 3-month sessions, my instructor had still not
received her Braille books. Lessons were to continue once the
next set of books arrived, conditioned by the prolonged mail
delays, I waited for the books and it wasn't until March of
2021 that I learned that the new order had fallen through. It
was another one to 2 months before they were finally in my
hands.''
''The lengthy delay--have made having consistent lessons
difficult. And my virtual instruction has been postponed until
the fall of 2021. The USPS offers a mail tracking system called
``Informed Delivery'' that could have allowed me to verify the
status of my packages. However, this image-based program is not
accessible to blind users. In 2018, the National Federation of
the Blind requested that USPS make this system accessible, but
no action was taken. Letters in the mail are similarly--
similarly affected for me.''
''As a companion to virtual instruction, and to accelerate
my learning, I also enrolled in a correspondence-based Braille
literacy course through the Hadley School for the Blind in
Illinois. Due to mail delays, the instructor has waived the
requirement that I wait for the grading of submitted written
work before moving on to the next lessons. Though this is a
missed opportunity for timely feedback, it is the only solution
given the drawn out correspondence via Free Matter for the
Blind.''
''My transition to Braille is vital, born sighted, I am no
longer able to read print. I yearn to make the switch from
audio to Braille. This transition is not simply a preference, I
have a profound hearing loss, and I am losing the last of my
hearing.''
''From my perspective, the Federal, State, and private
agencies that support me are being thwarted, and I feel
marginalized when Free Matter for the Blind suffers prolonged
delays that regular mail does not. And I am the one voice you
are hearing, but it affects many others. Thank you.''
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Rania Dima, Member, National Federation of the
Blind, Frederick, Maryland
my usps experience
As an aspiring author, the intake of knowledge and literature is
important, and as a new Braille learner, getting my hands on a steady
supply of Braille is crucial. This material is sent by Federal, State,
and private agencies via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as free matter
for the blind. According to its website, this federally-funded postage
is to be treated as first-class mail. However, free matter for the
blind has long experienced delays. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
delivery times ranged from one to two weeks. Post pandemic, they have
increased to one to 2 months. While other mail has mostly returned to
normal, free matter for the blind has not, and these lengthy delays
have impeded my ability to learn Braille.
When the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled
(LBPD) asked me to join the Braille E-reader pilot program, I readily
agreed. The first device was sent out on October 21, 2020. It should
have arrived within a week. On November 10th, a librarian informed me
that other patrons had also not received their mailed packages, and I
was issued a replacement. It wasn't until Christmastime that the two
packages arrived together. Refreshable Braille displays are expensive,
and I suddenly had two in my possession.
Because of my E-reader connectivity issues with the online service,
I opted for Braille book cartridges. The first, sent on April 12, 2021,
was never delivered and was returned to the library by USPS for unknown
reasons. LBPD sent another book cartridge on June 9th. It came exactly
1 month later while regular mail from Baltimore reaches Frederick
within a few days.
On behalf of the National Library Service, the Gallup Poll is
surveying E-reader participants at 2, 4 and 6 month intervals. Because
the original E-reader was delayed, it arrived just as the surveys
began, and of the three, I could only complete one survey. The Braille
book cartridges came too late for me to properly assess the E-reader
device. Based on follow-up phone calls, I fear that I will time out of
this poll, and the opportunity for feedback and funds allocated for my
participation in this pilot program will have been wasted.
Mail delays have also affected free matter for the blind from other
organizations. In March of 2020, the Maryland Division of
Rehabilitation Services ordered literacy books to continue my Braille
learning at home. These books did not arrive until the summer, delaying
my progress. In the fall, I began virtual Braille instruction. At the
end of our 3 month session, my instructor had still not received her
Braille books. Lessons were to continue once the next set of books
arrived. Conditioned by the prolonged mail delays, I waited for the
books and it wasn't until March of 2021 that I learned that the new
order had fallen through. It was another one to 2 months before they
were finally in my hands. The lengthy delays have made having
consistent lessons difficult and my virtual instruction has been
postponed until this fall.
The USPS offers a mail tracking system called Informed Delivery
that could have allowed me to verify the status of my packages.
However, this image-based program is not accessible to blind users. In
2018, the National Federation of the Blind requested that USPS make
this system accessible but no action was taken.
Letter-sized mail is similarly affected. As a companion to virtual
instruction and to accelerate my learning, I also enrolled in a
correspondence-based Braille literacy course through Hadley School for
the Blind. Due to mail delays, the instructor has waived the
requirement that I wait for the grading of submitted written work
before moving on to the next lessons. Though this is a missed
opportunity for timely feedback, it is the only solution given the
drawn out correspondence via free matter for the blind.
My transition to Braille is vital. Born sighted, I am no longer
able to read print, and I yearn to make the switch from audio to
Braille. This transition is not simply a preference; I have a profound
hearing loss and I am losing the last of my hearing. From my
perspective, the Federal, State and private agencies that support me
are being thwarted, and I feel marginalized when free matter for the
blind suffers prolonged delays that regular mail does not.
My voice is but one from the many who have been affected. Attached
to this testimony is Resolution 20-2105 which was recently passed by
the members of the National Federation of the Blind.
Resolution 2021-05: Regarding Mail Problems that Interfere with
NLS Services
WHEREAS, the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print
Disabled, Library of Congress, and its cooperating network libraries
provide books and magazines in specialized formats to blind and print-
disabled children, working-age adults, and seniors losing vision; and
WHEREAS, this valuable service not only provides the major source of
reading material for these people, but also fosters literacy skills for
children, interaction in community life for adults, and hope and
encouragement for the newly blind; and
WHEREAS, NLS and its network libraries depend on the United States
Postal Service (USPS) to distribute its materials and the digital
players, Braille displays, and other equipment needed to listen to or
read these books; and
WHEREAS, these libraries are permitted to use the Free Reading Matter
provisions of the postal regulation and the USPS claims on its website
that Free Reading Matter is ``treated as First-Class Mail for purposes
of processing, delivery and forwarding, and return if undeliverable'';
and
WHEREAS, from June 2020 to the present, far too many library customers
across the nation have experienced long delays or total absence in
receiving their books and equipment, even though the libraries have
sent them to the individual patron using the USPS; and
WHEREAS, this failure by the USPS not only has a detrimental effect on
the lives of blind and print-disabled Americans, but is also creating a
loss of taxpayer dollars since digital players, Braille displays, and
other valuable equipment are stuck in the post office, never reaching
the people who need it; and
WHEREAS, blind and print-disabled citizens cannot use the USPS Informed
Delivery service for residential customers to see if they will be
receiving library materials or equipment because it is inaccessible;
and
WHEREAS, in Resolution 2018-19, the National Federation of the Blind
urged USPS to make this service accessible and informed the agency that
it was violating Federal law, but the result was no action; and
WHEREAS, although Congress created and funded the Books for the Blind
program under the Pratt-Smoot Act of 1931, neither the Library of
Congress nor Congress itself demands any accountability from the USPS,
which plays a vital role in the success or failure of the program: Now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this tenth day of July, 2021, that this organization condemn
and deplore the failure of the United States Postal Service to deliver
materials and equipment to and from library patrons in a timely manner;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization insist that the Librarian
of Congress annually issue a report card to USPS based on data from NLS
and its cooperating network libraries on the timely delivery of
materials and equipment; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge the United
States Congress to require the USPS to report to the Congress on steps
that the USPS intends to take to improve timely delivery of library
materials and equipment to ensure that these items are truly treated as
First-Class Mail; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that the USPS
immediately end its discriminatory practices by making its Informed
Delivery service accessible to blind and print-disabled citizens.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you, Ms. Dima, for bringing
us your story. Sharon, thank you for your assistance today. And
your testimony shows the very real-world impact of these
unacceptable delivery delays that we are working to get to the
bottom of. So thank you for being here.
Now let us turn to another consumer, who has also been very
adversely affected by these postal delays, and that is, Karen
Meyers. So thank you for joining us.
STATEMENT OF MS. KAREN MEYERS, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER,
CITY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Ms. Meyers. Also thanks for inviting me. My name is Karen
Meyers. I am a resident of Baltimore, a retired teacher, and
the majority owner of a small business started by my husband 29
years ago. Our business is to market bank checks to AFL-CIO
union offices all over the country. Orders come to us online,
by phone--oops, thank you. Did you hear all that?
Senator Van Hollen. And now if you can start right from the
beginning.
Ms. Meyers. Okay.
Senator Van Hollen. Okay. Thanks.
Ms. Meyers. My name is Karen Meyers. I am a resident of
Baltimore, a retired teacher, and the majority owner of a small
business started by my husband 29 years ago. Our business is to
market bank checks to AFL-CIO unions all over the country.
Orders come to us online, by phone, or through the U.S. Postal
Service.
Over the past year, but particularly the past 9 to 10
months, we have had many problems with mail delivery. A number
of our customers have called to complain they have not received
their checks, when they had sent order forms in the mail weeks
or even months before. But we had not received those orders.
This caused strains in our relationships with customers who had
come to expect a turnaround time of about a week to 10 days
from when we received the orders to when they received their
checks.
In one particularly egregious example, a union office in
Oakland, California, mailed an order form on February 25 of
this year, and we received it on June 10. Our appeal for the
unions is that we outsource the printing of our checks to a
union check and business forms printer, so our relationship
with the printer is essential to the survival of our business.
We receive their invoices in the mail, and in the past have
sent our payments to them in the mail.
Here are some of the problems we have experienced because
of poor service by the Postal Service: In April or May of last
year a check for $4,000 written to our printer, but was stolen
and cashed. It had been mailed at a post office and was
destined for a post office box, so the theft is likely to have
occurred within the postal system.
In November our printer complained that we had not paid a
number of their invoices, but we had never received them. In
many cases invoices arrived four to five weeks late, making our
payments late.
A check we sent in February to pay a number of invoices had
not been received by the printer by April. We finally stopped
payment on the check and began paying all our invoices online'
just this past week we received an envelope of invoices on July
8 that had been mailed May 17.
Had we not had a strong, multi-year relationship with our
printing company and had they dropped us as customers, we would
be out of business. We have solved the problem of delays in our
payments by paying online but we still rely on the postal
system to deliver their invoices to us.
In another instance, we received an invoice from our CPA
whose office is located in Towson, 15 miles from our office in
Middle River, for the preparation of our State and Federal
taxes. We mailed our payment immediately. But after two weeks
they had not received the check so we put a stop payment on it
and delivered a replacement check to their office in person.
After another two weeks, they finally received the original
check in the mail.
We have experienced problems with mail delivery in our
personal lives as well. Christmas cards sent in mid-December
trickled in between January and April. Thank-you notes I sent
to my daughter and her family in Cleveland in mid-October
didn't arrive until March of this year. A priority mail package
sent to my sister in Indiana in December took 11 days to reach
her.
Our problems have been challenging but are insignificant
compared to the hardships suffered by low-income seniors
relying on the post office to deliver their Social Security
payments.
As a man from my church remarked to me; when Social
Security payments arrive late and recipients can't pay their
bills on time it can have a detrimental effect on good credit
ratings that may have taken a lifetime to build.'' Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Karen Meyers, Small Business Owner, City of
Baltimore, State of Maryland
My name is Karen Meyers and I am a resident of Baltimore, a retired
teacher, and the majority owner of a small business started by my
husband 29 years ago. Our business is to market bank checks to AFL-CIO
union offices all over the country. Orders come to us online, by phone,
or via the U.S. Postal Service (approximately 1/3 of orders).
Over the past year but particularly the past 9-10 months, we have
had many problems with mail delivery. A number of our customers have
called to complain they haven't received their check orders when they
had sent order forms in the mail weeks or even months before. But we
had not received those orders. This caused strains in our relationships
with customers who had come to expect a turnaround time of a week to 10
days from our receiving the order to their receiving their checks. In
one particularly egregious example, a union office in Oakland,
California, mailed an order form on February 25 of this year and we
received it on June 10.
Our appeal for the unions is that we outsource the printing of our
checks to a union check and business forms printer, making our
relationship with them essential to the survival of our business. We
receive their invoices in the mail and, in the past, have sent our
payments to them in the mail. Here are some of the problems we have
experienced because of poor service by the USPS:
--In April or May of last year a check for $4000 written to them was
stolen and cashed. It had been mailed at a post office and was
going to a PO box so the theft is likely to have occurred
within the postal system.
--In November the printing company complained that we had not paid a
number of their invoices but we had never received them. In
many cases, invoices arrived 4-5 weeks after being mailed,
making our payments late.
--A check we sent in February to pay a number of invoices had not
been received by the printer by April. We finally stopped
payment on the check and began paying all our invoices online.
--We received an envelope of invoices this past week, on July 8, that
had been mailed from Texas on May 17.
Had we not had a strong, multi-year relationship with our printing
company and had they dropped us as customers, we would be out of
business. We have solved the problem of delays in our payments to them
by paying online but we still rely on the postal system to deliver
their invoices to us.
In another instance, we received an invoice from our CPA whose
office is located in Towson, 15 miles from our office in Middle River,
for the preparation of our State and Federal taxes. We mailed our
payment immediately. But after two weeks they had not received the
check so we put a stop payment on it and delivered a replacement check
to their office in person. After another two weeks, they finally
received the original check in the mail.
We have experienced problems with mail delivery in our personal
lives as well. Christmas cards sent in mid-December trickled in between
January and April. Thank you notes I sent to my daughter and her family
in Cleveland in mid-October didn't arrive until March of this year. A
priority mail package sent to my sister in Indiana in December took 11
days to reach her.
Our problems have been challenging but are insignificant compared
to the hardships suffered by low-income seniors relying on the post
office to deliver their Social Security payments. As a man from my
church remarked to me, when Social Security payments arrive late and
recipients can't pay their bills on time, it can have a detrimental
effect on good credit ratings that may have taken a lifetime to build.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, Ms. Meyers, thank you for your
testimony, both in terms of your personal experience with your
small business, as well as relaying the stories of other people
in your community. And, you know, these delays have really
harmful impacts on people's lives. So we appreciate your being
here.
Now let us turn to our next witness here, Mr. Brian
McLaurin who, as I indicated earlier, is a postal worker. We
want to thank you for continuing your work throughout the
pandemic, and we are grateful to the men and women of the
Postal Service who deliver our mail. But of course have to
operate under the rules and the management that it comes down
from, ultimately the Postmaster General. So let me turn it over
to you. And maybe you can shed a little light on, real-world
terms, on some of the things inspector general was sharing with
us earlier. Let me turn it over to you, Mr. McLaurin.
STATEMENT OF MR. BRIAN McLAURIN, MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES
CRAFT DIRECTOR, AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS
UNION, NATION'S CAPITAL SOUTHERN MARYLAND
AREA, LOCAL 140
Mr. McLaurin. I thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Van
Hollen. My name is Brian McLaurin; I am a longtime Maryland
resident, and I joined the United States Postal Service in 1998
as a tractor trailer operator with the Motor Vehicle Service
Division of the Brentwood Postal Facility, now known as the
Curseen-Morris Mail Processing and Distribution Center.
I am proud to say that I have been driving tractor-trailers
for the Postal Service for 23 years. I have also served as the
Motor Vehicle Craft Director of the American Postal Workers
Union, Nation's Capital/Southern Maryland Area Local. I have
held this elected position since 2009. Our local represents
around 2,000 dedicated postal workers who serve their community
and Nation every day.
I have personally witnessed the slow and steady decline and
delay of our Nation's mail. Over the years, postal workers were
empowered to move the mail on time through a variety of tools,
such as overtime, and the drivers waiting for mail to be loaded
on their trucks before heading out. If some mail didn't make it
on the truck, that was not a serious problem since we made
multiple trips early in the day, and sometimes extra trips to
move the mail.
Today, however, we leave mail behind because of plant
processing issues, machines break down and, you know, less
machines in the building. We make fewer trips, we are
understaffed, and we are required to stick to rigid delivery
schedules which require drivers like myself to leave with
trucks that are not fully loaded.
To make matters even worse, postal facilities are short-
staffed; so, when mail finally arrives at a station, there are
not enough workers to process the mail and get it out for
delivery. I have personally witnessed on countless occasions,
the same mail sitting in the facility for 2 or 3 days. Postal
employees get to it when they can, but they must be directed by
management. Management decides when mail will be moved. As a
result, family members, neighbors, and window clerks regularly
tell me heart wrenching stories about how critical packages are
not being delivered timely.
Concern over mail slowdowns is not isolated to my Home
State of Maryland. My national union shared with me over
130,000 complaints to the Postal Service which were submitted
in opposition to management's current proposal to further
reduce service standards. The comments share a common theme:
people are concerned about the current delays of the mail, and
are pleading against any efforts to erode the system further.
My personal account, are a case study of a larger problem,
which will only worsen if we do not act. The Postal Service's
10-year plan outlines an agenda to further slow the mail
despite the documented failures of its most recent slowdown.
After 2012, the Postal Service initiated a plan to cut
costs, by slowing down the mail and closing postal facilities.
In reality, according to public filings at the Postal
Regulatory Commission, the plan caused the Postal Service to
lose $65.9 million in its first year due to increased
transportation costs as mail was being driven further due to
the shutdown of several postal facilities.
The Southern Maryland P&DC facility, which is represented
by my local, was one of the first victims of this policy. Under
this policy, rather than quickly process mail in as few
facilities as possible, mail now needed to be shuttled from its
origin facility to Gaithersburg, an hour away for the postage
to be canceled, and then shuttled back to Southern Maryland
Facility, P&DC, for further processing. This shuttling is a key
culprit to why the mail is slow.
In 2016 and 2017, the Postal Service Inspector General
found that U.S. Postal Service eventually managed to stabilize
its losses, but still only saved 5.6 percent of the anticipated
savings, despite slashing jobs and decreasing the level of
service Americans deserve. The Postal Service also lost
business when it slowed down the mail; as the Postal Regulatory
Commission warned: When mail service slows, people use the mail
less.
The Postal Service must stop slowing down the mail and
begin the process of returning to its 2012 service standards.
Returning the United States Postal Service to the 2012
standards will return overnight delivery for many areas and
speed up mail delivery by one day for the remaining mail.
I learned from my national union that in the current
appropriations process, the American Postal Workers Union, is
urging this subcommittee to intervene to guarantee a baseline
level of service for United States Postal Service performance,
as well as for facility, and window hours.
Congress should add language to the Financial Services and
General Government Appropriations bill which will: One, ask the
PRC to look at the costs and benefits of returning the United
States Postal Service to its 2012 service standards. And two,
at a minimum, prohibit the United States Postal Service from
reducing its service standards, mail delivery times, facility
hours, post office operation window service hours, and
performance metrics below its 2020 levels.
The Postal Service remains a bedrock of public service and
must be protected from misguided managerial attempts to run
trucks on time, and outrageous efforts to reduce the speed of
the mail. Fortunately, this subcommittee can both protect our
Nation from yet another mail slowdown and place the Postal
Service on a path to restoring the level of service Americans
deserve.
I thank you for the opportunity to share my story.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Brian McLaurin, APWU Motor Vehicle Craft
Director, Nation's Capital Southern Maryland Area
Good afternoon Chairman Van Hollen and Members of the Senate
Appropriations, Financial Services, and General Government
Subcommittee. My name is Brian McLaurin; as a long time Maryland
resident, I was thrilled to join USPS in 1998 as a driver with the
Motor Vehicle Service division of the Brentwood Postal Facility, now
known as the Curseen-Morris Mail Processing and Distribution Center.
I'm proud to say that I have been driving tractor-trailers for the
Postal Service for 23 years. I also serve as the Motor Vehicle Craft
Director of the American Postal Worker Union's Nation's Capital/
Southern Maryland Area Local. I have held this elected position since
2009. Our local represents around 2,000 dedicated postal workers who
serve their community and Nation every day.
I have personally witnessed the slow and steady decline and delay
of our Nation's mail. Over the years, postal workers were empowered to
move the mail on time through a variety tools such as overtime, and
waiting for mail to be loaded on their truck before heading out. If
some mail didn't make it on the truck, that wasn't a serious problem
since we made multiple trips early in the day, and sometimes extra
trips to move the mail. Today, however, we leave mail behind because we
make fewer trips, are understaffed, and are required to stick to rigid
delivery schedules which require drivers like me to leave with trucks
that are not fully loaded.
To make matters even worse, postal facilities are short-staffed;
so, when mail finally arrives at a station, there aren't enough workers
to process mail and get it out for delivery. I have personally
witnessed on countless occasions, the same mail sitting in the facility
for 2 or 3 days. Postal employees get to it when they can, but they
must be directed by management. As a result, family members, neighbors,
and window clerks regularly tell me heart wrenching stories about how
critical packages are not being delivered.
Concern over mail slowdowns is not isolated to my home State of
Maryland. My national union shared with me over 130,000 comments to the
Postal Service which were submitted in opposition to management's
current proposal to further reduce service standards. The comments
share a common theme: people are concerned about the current delays of
the mail and are pleading against any efforts to erode the system
further.
My personal accounts are a case study of a larger problem, which
will only worsen if we do not act. The Postal Service's 10-year plan
outlines an agenda to further slow the mail--despite the documented
failures of its most recent slowdown.
After 2012, USPS initiated a plan to cut costs, by slowing down the
mail and closing postal facilities. In reality, according to public
filings at the PRC, the plan caused USPS to lose $65.9 million in its
first year due to increased transportation costs as mail was being
driven further due to the shutdown of several postal facilities.
The Southern Maryland P&DC facility, which is represented by my
local, was one of the first victims of this policy. Under this policy,
rather than quickly process mail in as few facilities as possible, mail
now needed to be shuttled from its origin facility, to Gaithersburg, an
hour away for the postage to be canceled, and then shuttled back to the
Southern Maryland Facility P&DC, for further processing. This
``shuttling'' is a key culprit as to why the mail is slow.
In 2016 and 2017, the USPS Inspector General found that USPS
eventually managed to stabilize its losses but still only saved 5.6
percent of the anticipated savings, despite slashing jobs and
decreasing the level of service Americans deserve. USPS also lost
business when it slowed down the mail. As the Postal Regulatory
Commission warned, when mail service slows, people use the mail less.
USPS must stop slowing down the mail and begin the process of
returning to its 2012 service standards. Returning USPS to the 2012
service standards would return overnight delivery for many areas and
speed up mail delivery times by 1 day for the remaining mail.
I learned from my national union that in the current appropriations
process, APWU is urging this committee to guarantee a baseline level of
service for USPS performance, as well as for facility, and window
hours. Congress should add language to the FSGG Appropriations bill
which will:
1. Ask the PRC to look at the costs and benefits of returning USPS
to its 2012 service standards
2. At a minimum prohibit USPS from reducing its service standards,
mail delivery times, facility hours, post office operation/window
service hours, and performance metrics below its 2020 levels
The Postal Service remains a bedrock of public service and must be
protected from misguided managerial attempts to run trucks on time and
outrageous efforts to reduce the speed of the mail. Fortunately, this
committee can both protect our Nation from yet another mail slowdown
and place USPS on a path to restoring the level of service Americans
deserve.
I thank you for the opportunity to share my story.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you, Mr. McLaurin, and
thank you again for your service, and, as part of the Postal
Service, for a long tenure. And your testimony today really
shines a light on the issues the inspector general was
referring to, and you are right, we need to return to the 2012,
standards.
If you could just talk a little bit about the issue raised
regarding the changes in policies that were really made, you
know, about this time last year, maybe a little later, and you
mentioned specifically the issue of, you know, trucks not
waiting till they are full with mail, leaving without being
full, but that delays the whole system.
Can you just talk a little bit about how that change? And
that was partly, I think you alluded to the fact that that was
partly due to a concern about overtime, having to pay overtime.
Mr. McLaurin. Mm-hmm.
Senator Van Hollen. But we need to pay for our mail to be
delivered on time. Can you talk a little bit about how that
filtered its way through the system, and resulted in our two
customers who are here today, how it impacted their delayed
mail delivery?
Mr. McLaurin. No problem. Well, first of all, at one time
we would always move the mail without any kind of delay, or any
kind of problem about the mail not being moved because of
worried about paying overtime. Mail would come out. We had
enough machines in the building where the mail would come out
on time. We didn't have to wait for the mail to come, you know,
to the loading dock to load the trucks.
So when the mail is not on time, you waited for the mail
that was another slow down, but most recently now there was a
change where they said, well, if the mail is not on the dock,
leave. So we leave at 7:00 o'clock, if 7:00 o'clock and you
don't have all your mail, leave anyway. But then the mail
starts to come out, but at 7:00 o'clock, but the mail is on the
dock, but still the supervisor says: This is 7:00 o'clock it is
time to go. I said: What about the mail?
You know, so the times have changed where we don't, I
guess, value the sanctity of the mail. We would never leave
mail behind. Now we do that with at a drop of a bucket.
Senator Van Hollen. Right. And of course that has the
direct impact, the kind of, you know, stories and testimony we
are hearing, today. And that has to have some kind of impact on
you and your fellow postal workers when, you know, people are
interacting with customers who are understandably complaining,
but the cause of the problems is the new policies that have
been put in place by management. Can you just talk to how you
and other postal workers are experiencing the complaints and
concerns that have been raised?
Mr. McLaurin. Certainly. I have a station I go to in the
morning, I drop off the mail, a tractor trailer full of mail,
lately--my trip used to be full, now it is half-way full. I go
to the clerk having to see the clerks, the new clerks they have
working in the station. And she said that she was new there,
and maybe her first week, and she said there was--two or three
of her customers came up to her and asked her: Well, how come
she is not getting her mail? Where is the mail at?
You know, everybody from my neighbor, to a clerk at the
station that I don't hardly know will ask me: What is going on
with the mail? And all I can tell them is: All I do is I move
the mail. I can't do more to it, unless I put it on the back of
the truck. But the service standards makes it so, I guess, the
ordinary person who needs their service, of mail service is not
getting it.
You know, for people who can afford to do other things,
they can do that. But if I need the mail in my neighborhood, I
can't get it. I am at a disadvantage.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you. And again, these are
deliberate changes that were made that have these harmful
consequences on delivering the mail, which is why we need to
make changes in the management of the system.
Ms. Dima, if you could just talk again about the fact that
the material that you receive to help you in this process of
learning Braille, how you have noticed that that is not
delivered at the same pace, and at the same time as first-class
mail? And I know you mentioned that. And the reason I am
bringing it up again is that, after our office heard about
these issues through the National Federation for the Blind, we
contacted the Post Office and they told us that they are--they
don't treat that material any differently than the first-class
mail. Is that what they are telling you as well?
Ms. Dima. Well, yes, and that is what they say on their
website, that it is treated as first-class mail. But I know
when I receive mail from Baltimore it comes to me within three
or 4 days. But the mail that comes from the library, which is
also located in Baltimore, takes a month. So this book
cartridge came, it was delivered--it was sent--put in the mail
on June 9 and it came on July 9. So an entire month went by.
And I know that with regards to my instructor who did not
receive her ordered books, I had actually had a copy of one of
the Braille books that we were working with. And my husband
took it to the Post Office and paid the postage and sent her
the book from Frederick to Cumberland, and she received it
within a week. Whereas, it took me in upwards, you know, three
to 4 months I even received my books.
Senator Van Hollen. Right. So we are going to continue to
pursue this issue because they are telling us one thing, but
your real-world experience, and other real-world experience is
obviously dramatically different from their policy. You
mentioned the USPS' Informed Delivery app, which I think has
been a useful tool for some people, but as you indicated, is
not designed to be useful for individuals who are blind. We are
also pursuing that issue. What are they telling you about
changes that they are making to the app so that it can be
accessible?
Ms. Dima. There has been no action. I know that in 2018 the
National Federation of the Blind requested that they make this
program accessible for blind users. And there has been no
action.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, I can assure you that we are
going to be pursuing that as well. And we are going to be
asking the inspector general to pursue that issue as well.
So Ms. Meyers, I think, you know--what we heard throughout
this period, and continuing now from small businesses, and all
the issues that you raised where customers would grow irate
with a small business because, you know, something they had
ordered from that small business had been--not been delivered,
which was not the fault, in any way, of the small business, but
entirely because of these postal changes. Could you--is there a
way to quantify the sort of damage from the delays that you
have experienced?
Ms. Meyers. Yes. I wish I could. I can't really quantify
it. I can tell you that we have spent a lot of time putting out
brushfires that, you know, would not have happened had the
Postal Service been on top of it. I think maybe the only
advantage to this being such a widespread problem is that
people know, I mean, you know, people, if we tell them we
didn't get in the mail, they will say: Yes, I just got a
Christmas card in April.
Senator Van Hollen. Yes.
Ms. Meyers. So I think there was some degree of
understanding.
Senator Van Hollen. Right.
Ms. Meyers. And as I said, because we had a good
relationship with our supplier that helped, but that, that was
probably the trickier relationship. But as I said, if we had
lost them, we would be out of business, you know.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, right. And I noticed that in your
testimony that you had that, you know, you had a strong
relationship.
Ms. Meyers. Mm-hmm.
Senator Van Hollen. Which helped you, I think, weather the
storm, but I am sure there are many others. In fact, I have
heard from others who just, you know, discontinued their
relationship, and because they didn't fully recognize that it
was not the fault of the----
Ms. Meyers. Right.
Senator Van Hollen [continuing]. Small business side to
begin with. And the other issue, as you just indicated, people
begin to, you know, get used to this late delivery, which is
unacceptable, but it is, it does create a vicious, downward
spiral because as Mr. McLaurin, you know, suggested, then
people stop using the mail.
Ms. Meyers. Right.
Senator Van Hollen. And look for alternatives. And that
obviously means less support for the U.S. Postal Service. And
so that is why we are--we really wanted to have all of you here
to talk about, the very sort of human, you know, costs and harm
that are done by these delays.
And it is the number one issue, and most consistent issue
that our office has heard about over time. Obviously, during
this period of the pandemic, we have heard from people, you
know, with respect to unemployment compensation, we have heard
from small businesses trying to access the PPP program. So we
have had, obviously, lots of interaction with constituents on
lots of issues over this period of time.
But the one thing that has been constant throughout that
has been, unacceptably slow mail delivery. And as you heard
from the Inspector General's Office, the Baltimore area has
been especially hard hit, and that is why we are working really
to support her in her investigation to get to the bottom of
this. It is, as you have said, we have seen this problem around
the country, but there are certainly areas, including areas in
Maryland, that have been especially a hard hit.
And so your testimony helps provide leads to all of us, you
know, and for the Inspector General, as she continues to do
her, her good work.
I don't know if any of you have any, you know, closing
comments that you would like to add.
Ms. Meyers. I would like to add something, if I could?
Senator Van Hollen. Sure.
Ms. Meyers. I feel like one of the big problems in our
country right now is that there is widespread mistrust of,
suspicion of, and even hostility towards the government, and
when a trusted institution that people have relied on their
whole lives, like the Post Office, fails that certainly doesn't
help the situation. In fact, it exacerbates it, I would say.
Senator Van Hollen. I think that is a very important point.
And, unfortunately--unfortunately there are some people who try
to exploit that sentiment, and as people take actions that
make, as I say, the ability to deliver service worse, and then
you have this cycle, this downward spiral. You know, I have--I
don't think it is any secret I have, you know, called for the
replacement some time ago of the current Postmaster General. I
think that the policies he put in place have been demonstrably
part of the problem here. That is reflected in the Inspector
General's Report, in the Inspector General's testimony, and in
the testimony all of you have provided.
I mean the COVID pandemic obviously imposed hardships and
difficulties throughout the country. And obviously it has an
impact on the workforce and the availability of the workforce.
But on top of all that, you had these very deliberate changes
in policy that were not--that were harmful, and also not even
explained.
So there was just lots of confusion about the changes that
were taking place. And I do worry, as he just said, Ms. Meyers,
that that continues to undermine confidence in what has been,
you know, an institution that has been one of the gold
standards in terms of reliability and standards.
So we have got to get back to that place before it is too
late, and people have--you know, to lose confidence in the
system because it is not fair to customers and consumers. It is
not fair to the men and women who every day are delivering the
mail, to have in place management decisions that are
undermining the mission of the Post Office.
So thank all of you for your testimony. I don't know if
either of the other witnesses here; want to make any closing
remarks.
Ms. Dima. Yes. I would like to say something. I just wanted
to point out, with regards to the Informed Delivery, the 508,
in the Federal Law requires that this be accessible, and it is
not. And that there, you know, I am just one voice of the many
blind people in the community that are struggling to get our
mail in a timely manner.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, I appreciate your testimony, it
reflects the, you know, wide range of hardships that, you know,
Americans are experiencing. I mean, we talked about small
businesses, we have talked about people who were charged late
fees through no fault of their own, many of them, you know,
just living paycheck to paycheck.
And then there is, you know, your very important and
powerful story about, you know, working to learn Braille,
because of your loss of vision. And so just, we are grateful
for your fortitude, and look forward to working with you to
correct these problems.
I don't know, Mr. McLaurin, if you have any final
statement.
Mr. McLaurin. I would just like to say, I hope that the
subcommittee can take care of these issues and help us move
forward and get past this, and make sure that we can have a
viable Postal Service in the future.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you. And as, as you said,
we need to get back to those, you know, 2012 standards.
Mr. McLaurin. Yes.
Senator Van Hollen. We know that it can be done, right.
Mr. McLaurin. Right.
Senator Van Hollen. Because you were doing it.
Mr. McLaurin. Yes.
Senator Van Hollen. Right, in 2012, before some of these,
deliberate changes that were made that have, you know,
compromised the ability to deliver mail on time. So it is
unacceptable. It needs to change. And your testimony today, all
from all of you, provide very useful guidance to us. So thank
you.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the witnesses for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
[Clerk's note: The following questions were submitted to
the Postal Service, but responses never received.]
Questions Submitted to Ms. Tammy L. Whitcomb, Inspector General of the
United States Postal Service
Questions Submitted by Senator Chris Van Hollen:
Question 1. USPS released their 10 year plan earlier this year,
which includes reducing first class service standards, consolidating
post offices, transitioning the delivery fleet to electric vehicles,
and increasing prices.
a. Does the Office of Inspector General (OIG) have concerns or
indications that individuals will choose other mailing systems
over the USPS because of higher prices, longer wait lines, and
slower delivery?
Question 2. My office has received over 3,500 messages regarding
mail delays since July 2020. You mentioned during the hearing that your
office has conducted targeted audits on specific parts of the country
to evaluate service challenges.
a. Do you have plans to do an audit in the Delaware/
Pennsylvania region to evaluate causes of poor delivery times
over the last year?
Question 3. The USPS' OIG budget justification states that an
emerging issue that the office is beginning to focus on is the multi-
billion dollar contract USPS awarded to a company to produce its next
generation delivery vehicle, which will assemble up to 165,000 new
vehicles over the next 10 years. The budget justification also states
that Postal Service management subsequently indicated it would need
billions of dollars in additional funding from Congress to electrify up
to 90 percent of that fleet.
a. Has the OIG considered conducting oversight on the process
by which this contract was awarded and does the OIG have any
concerns about the process?
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick Leahy
Question 1. During his confirmation hearing for his appointment to
the Postal Board of Governors, Ron Stroman illustrated many of the
issues that arose as a result of reform measures that Postmaster
General Louis DeJoy took during the pandemic, such as forcing dispatch
trucks to leave on time without first solving mail processing issues.
He pointed to an Inspector General report, from your office, which he
testified outlined various processing problems that must be solved
before implementing changes to the transport schedule. Unfortunately,
the report released to the public as heavily redacted, for reasons that
are unclear.
a. Please provide the specific list of processing problems
identified by this report, which in its public release was
redacted, so that Congress can monitor the United States Postal
Service's progress toward addressing those problems.
b. Please provide your office's justification for the
redacting such information.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Joe Manchin, III
During my time in the Senate, I've fought to ensure our mail is
delivered on time. As you know, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
announced changes in 2020 that slowed down mail and compromised service
across the country. Rather than learn from these mistakes, DeJoy
doubled down in March, announcing a 10-year reorganization that would
reduce the hours of post offices and close others.
That's why I joined Senators Heinrich and Blumenthal in introducing
legislation that prevents these changes that negatively impact delivery
standards within the USPS.
The on-time delivery of mail continues to be a crucial issue for
our fellow Americans. While there have been steps to decrease delays,
our Nation continues to see this problem persist. Since fiscal year
2019, 201 constituents have written my office concerning USPS. Since
April of this year, 86 constituents have written in about mail delays.
We must act to improve mail delivery.
Question 1. Some of the processing facilities that serve my State
are among the worst performers in the country according to your
office's service performance dashboard. What is causing this poor
performance?
Question 2. Can you work with my office to diagnose and address
these delays to ensure we increase on-time deliveries for West
Virginians?
narcotics
Each year, authorities seize enough fentanyl to kill every American
four times over, much of it ordered over the Internet and sent through
the mail. As West Virginia has been ravaged by the opioid epidemic,
I've supported a multitude of efforts to ensure that the largest
distributors are being caught and to try and stem the flow of drugs
into the State.
To address increasing drug sales online, I introduced bipartisan
legislation with Senator Cornyn that would amend Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act to require companies to report illegal
activity on their online platforms.
I've also worked to provide the West Virginia regional FBI office
with the necessary funding to support agents dedicated to ending this
pandemic as well as providing entities like CBP, ICE, and DHS with the
necessary funding and support to seize thousands of pounds of narcotics
along our ports of entry.
The United States Inspection Service is tasked with enforcing laws
that defend the Nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use.
Across the Nation, there are approximately 1,200 inspectors that are
expected to examine 6.2 billion packages per year; there are only two
inspectors in my entire State.
Question 1. Given the opioid issues that have plagued my State for
years, why are there still only two inspectors in my entire State?
Question 2. What steps has the USPS taken to assist in curtailing
the opioid crisis in the U.S?
Question 3. Do you need additional assistance from Congress to
address this problem?
sorting machines
Last year, after visiting the Charleston Processing & Distribution
Center, I discovered that three Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS)
machines and one Advanced Facer Canceler System (AFCS) out of service,
and one Automated Flat Sorter Machine (AFSM) were slated to be put out
of service. This considerably reduced the capacity of Charleston P&DC
prior to the electionaaw, so I called on the U.S. Postmaster General
Louis DeJoy to immediately reinstate these critical mail sorting
machines.
In October, I was pleased to learn that a Federal judge had
overruled the changes DeJoy had reversed, which was intended to bring
these machines and others around the country back online.
However, I have heard reports that none of these machines were ever
put back online.
Question 1. What is the current status of USPS efforts to reinstate
these machines in West Virginia and around the country?
Question 2. If USPS fails to do so, what will be the impact on our
country's mail system?
6-day-a-week mail delivery
The elimination of Saturday delivery has been discussed several
times by Postmaster DeJoy, which would harm rural communities. This
would cut tens of thousands of rural letter carrier jobs, many of which
are held by veterans.
In addition to the loss of jobs as a result of the elimination of
Saturday delivery, the Postal Service becomes a lifeline to rural areas
where Internet access is less reliable. It is essential that we keep
postal facilities open and operational so that the people and the
economy do no not suffer more than they should.
Question 1. What is the current status of Saturday Delivery in the
reorganization discussions?
Question 2. Can my State count on you to examine the financial harm
of eliminating Saturday Delivery (6-day a week) and its impact on rural
areas?
vehicle maintenance facilities
USPS Vehicle Maintenance Facilities have been underfunded and
understaffed, resulting in maintenance garage delays and Saturday
closures. These impediments have resulted in subsequent delays in
vehicle maintenance and upkeep. Fleet upkeep and maintenance are
critical for both maintain on-time delivery and ensuring driver safety
at the local levels.
Question 1. Given the OIG's oversight of USPS operations and
maintenance, what is the current maintenance backlog, and what is the
impact this has on both jobs and delivery times?
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
And the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:55 p.m., Tuesday, July 13, the hearing was
concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
subject to the call of the Chair.]
[all]