08.26.24

Hoeven to USPS District Leadership: Be Transparent & Collaborate with Public to Ensure Timely Mail Service

Senator Worked with Postmaster General to Organize Meeting to Discuss Planned Changes to Mail Processing & Address Community Questions

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today held a roundtable with U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Minnesota-North Dakota District Manager Angela Bye and Midwest Processing Division Director Kathy Hand to discuss proposed changes to regional mail processing and efforts to improve mail service across North Dakota. The meeting comes as part of Hoeven’s ongoing efforts with USPS, including Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, to address mail service concerns in the state. To this end, Hoeven:

  • Worked with DeJoy to set up today’s meeting with the community, the first such meeting of its kind for USPS, following the senator’s calls for USPS to be transparent on any planned changes and answer questions.
    • Hoeven and his staff spoke repeatedly with DeJoy, Bye and other USPS leaders to raise community concerns and make the case for holding the roundtable.
    • The senator is asking USPS to establish a point of contact for stakeholders, such as developers, county officials and newspapers, to address localized issues.
  • Is urging District Manager Bye to continue implementing the recommendations in the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of the Minnesota-North Dakota District that was completed earlier this year.
    • Hoeven and the North Dakota delegation previously secured a commitment from the OIG to expand its postal audit of the district to include Dickinson, Grand Forks and Fargo, in addition to Bismarck, Mandan and Minot.
    • The audit focused on five areas: delayed mail, package scanning, arrow keys, staffing, and property conditions. Deficiencies were found in each of these categories at a district-wide level.
    • The OIG is targeting November 2024 for the implementation of the last of its seven recommendations.
  • Is working to ensure any changes to mail processing do not negatively impact mail service, including the delivery of local newspapers.
    • As part of a bipartisan earlier effort this year, Hoeven successfully called on USPS to pause the implementation of its Mail Processing Facility Review (MPFR), including proposed changes to processing in Grand Forks and Bismarck, until after January 1, 2025.
    • Following the senator’s efforts, USPS agreed to open a process with the Postal Regulatory Commission to review the impacts of the proposed MPFR changes.

“We appreciate Postmaster DeJoy and District Manager Bye for working with us to set up this first-of-its-kind meeting, giving the public and local leaders the opportunity to get their questions answered and their concerns addressed. Today’s roundtable is about transparency, public engagement and, importantly, ensuring timely mail service for households and businesses across the state who rely on USPS on a daily basis,” said Hoeven. “Between the OIG audit and the pause to mail processing, we’ve made important progress in addressing issues with local mail service, but more needs to be done. We look forward to all of the audit recommendations being implemented in North Dakota and welcome news that the Postal Regulatory Commission will be reviewing any changes made to mail processing to prevent negative impacts. That’s key, whether people are waiting on medications, bills or their local newspapers.”

          In addition, Hoeven is sponsoring legislation to help ensure reliable, timely mail service in North Dakota and across the country. This includes:

  •  The Deliver for Democracy Act, legislation introduced by Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to help ensure timely delivery of local newspapers by the USPS and limit excessive rate increases.
    • In recent years, USPS has consistently raised rates for periodicals under the guise of increased efficiency and improved service. However, local news has yet to receive those benefits and instead continues to face persistent postal delivery delays.
    • Among other things, the bill would require USPS to either achieve at least a 95% on-time delivery rate for periodicals or an improvement of at least 2 percentage points to unlock its 2% surcharge authority for that class of mail; 
  • The Postal Delivery Accountability Act, legislation introduced by Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to improve USPS delivery tracking and accountability systems.

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