CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A year before new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy made (then suspended) controversial cuts, the U.S. Postal Service struggled to make timely deliveries in two of Charlotte's most populated zip codes, according to a September 2019 federal audit.
The USPS Office of Inspector General audit found most mail carriers at the USPS Minuet Carrier Annex, which serves the 28210 and 28209 zip codes, finished their routes one to two hours late every night due to "late arriving and unsorted working mail". Auditors concluded mail from the Charlotte and Mid Carolinas Processing and Distribution Centers arrived late 43% of the time. The report found those 503 late trips "ranged from one minute to almost seven hours late," which required "additional sorting by clerks and casing by carriers."
The audit also questioned USPS's failure to properly scan some packages, which made it difficult for customers to track their mail. In response to the audit, USPS pledged to make several improvements and said, despite the plant manager position turning over three times in a matter of six months, nearly 99 percent of all mail is scanned.
Mail service has remained in the spotlight since President Donald Trump's newly appointed postmaster general made cost-cutting changes. Those changes have since prompted concerns about whether USPS can handle mail-in ballots for the upcoming election.
"What concerns me now is where we are at this point and where we are at this point is that the mail is continuing to be late," Rep. Alma Adams (D), NC-12, said Friday. "It is a problem for the people I represent."
Rep. Adams said she's not just concerned about mail-in ballots. She said her constituents continue to receive their medications and checks late.
"I asked Mr. DeJoy if he was getting his mail on time and he said he didn't know, so obviously it's not that important to him," Rep. Adams said.
Rep. Adams has remained critical of DeJoy in recent weeks. While DeJoy has said he has suspended the changes he made, Rep. Adams is still skeptical.
"We're not completely convinced that that is the case," she said. "The damage was already done."
Congressional records show nationwide, USPS' on-time score dropped significantly in July, which lead to the questioning of DeJoy during an August hearing.
"While we have had temporary service decline, which should not have happened, we are fixing this..." he told the House Oversight and Reform Committee. "...I am laser-focused on improving service for the American public."
His testimony came after Charlotte's postal workers raised concerns earlier in the month about mail sorting machines removed from service.
A separate USPS OIG audit in 2019 at the USPS Freedom Station located near the airport questioned more than $6,000 in unusually high, but valid customer service meeting expenses, including nearly $2,700 spent on a district holiday luncheon and another $3,700 spent on a postal forum.
In a statement Friday, USPS said the Postal Service is committed to delivering election mail in a timely manner and has more than enough capacity to handle election mail volume.
“The United States Postal Service is fully committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when public policymakers choose to utilize us as a part of their election system, and to delivering Election Mail in a timely manner consistent with our operational standards," the statement said. "We do ask election officials and voters to be mindful of the time that it takes for us to transport, process and deliver ballots from the election mail officials to the voters, the time that it takes for voters to consider and prepare their ballots, and the time that it takes for a ballot to be transported, processed, and delivered back to the election official after it is placed by the voter back into the mail stream, based upon our usual delivery standards which have not changed.
For that reason, we recommend that customers who opt to vote through the U.S. Mail must understand their local jurisdiction’s requirements for timely submission of absentee ballots, including postmarking requirements. Voters must use First-Class Mail or an expedited level of service to return their completed ballots. In order to allow sufficient time for voters to receive, complete and return ballots via the mail, and to facilitate timely receipt of completed ballots by election officials, we strongly recommend that jurisdictions immediately communicate and advise voters to request ballots at the earliest point allowable but no later than 15 days prior to the election date. The Postal Service recommends that domestic, non-military voters mail their completed ballots back to the election officials at least one week prior to their state’s due date. The Postal Service also recommends that voters contact local election officials for information about deadlines."