BALTIMORE — Baltimore residents met with local USPS leadership to discuss delays in mail delivery, which has plagued the area for over a year.
The meeting was hosted by Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who criticized postal service officials for canceling the meeting originally scheduled for last month.
Complaints about mail service have continued to flood her office with residents reporting missing or late mail that include medications, bills and paychecks.
“This past week and the week before I have received mail from January and from April,” said Jo-Ann Orlinsky.
Baltimore postal service officials apologized for the problems, which they blamed on staffing challenges related to the pandemic as well as high package volume.
“We are more than aware that we have not provided each and every one of the level of service that you expect,” said Le Gretta Goodwin who is with USPS.
According to the Office of Inspector General at the postal service, the Baltimore district has delivered 61.7 percent of its mail on the time which ranked among the worst in the nation.
During a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday led by Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb told him and other lawmakers reforms made by Postmaster General Louis Dejoy contributed to some of the problems.
However, USPS officials in Baltimore said the area is starting to see improvements in mail service. Officials also say changes have been made that include bringing in more mail carriers to help catch up with the backlog.
“My goal is to make sure we have 100 percent delivery every day and we’re pushing hard daily to get there,” said Baltimore Postmaster Ed Williamson.
Williamson said he’s set a goal to get service back to normal by the last week of July, but also admitted it’s hard to pinpoint an exact time-frame.
