Staffing shortages, long routes, and other problems led to more than 6,000 pieces of mail being delayed at a Raleigh post office on just one day, according to an audit released recently by the U.S. Postal Service.
The audit, which included an in-person inspection at the Avent Ferry Station in November, also found employees were not following coronavirus safety rules.
“During our site visits, we observed multiple employees not wearing masks while working in the station. Further, employees stated the station had gone weeks without general cleaning supplies such as hand soap and paper towels in the restrooms,” the auditors wrote in the report.
The auditors blamed the lax sanitary standards on management at the station. They said the post office was not being cleaned regularly.
“Management stated that some employees were reluctant to wear masks,” according to the report. “In addition, management stated they did not have a full-time custodian to perform consistent COVID-19 cleaning at the unit.
The U.S. Postal Service faced criticism last year as mail delivery slowed down before the election. Postmaster Louis DeJoy, a former executive and supporter of Donald Trump, told Congress recently that he is planning an overhaul of the Postal Service that could include higher prices and slower delivery.
Democrats accused DeJoy of intentionally slowing down the mail before the 2020 election, when many Democratic voters cast their ballots by mail.
People around the country complained about slow delivery over the holidays, the busiest season for the Postal Service.
The Avent Ferry Station sits at the corner of Lake Dam and Tryon roads in Raleigh. The auditors said they chose that post office because of the high number of “stop the clock” scans on packages there.
The auditors said they found that many packages were being marked as delivered while they were still at the station.
“Postal Service policy states that all types of First-Class Mail, Priority Mail, and Priority Express Mail are always committed for delivery on the day of receipt. Any committed mail not processed and taken out for delivery on the day of receipt is delayed,” according to the report.
In a response to the audit, the district manager agreed with the auditors’ recommendations for adding staff and training.
The Avent Ferry Station has, “58 city routes and 17 rural routes delivered by 78 city carriers and 27 rural carriers,” according to the audit. But at the time of the audit, the station had more than 20 open positions, including for the station manager.
Supervisors said they have been having trouble hiring as they compete with delivery companies for employees. They also said there was a hiring freeze for management jobs nationally, according to the report.
The management hiring freeze was part of the postmaster general's restructuring plan, according to FEDweek. That restructing led to mail delays around the country.
They also told auditors that supervisors had to go out on mail routes everyday because of the shortage of mail carriers.
Read the full audit report from the U.S. Postal Service here.