- Recommendations have been made to the Tallahassee Processing and Distribution Center after an investigation by the USPS Office of the Inspector General found a multitude of issues.
- USPS Office of the Inspector General says the reports that came out detailing issues in Tallahassee are interim and a full summary will be available in the fall.
- Watch the video to hear what neighbors have to say:
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Now that an audit was released outlining mishandling of mail at post offices across our neighborhoods, I'm taking a look at what's next and seeing what neighbors have to say.
Linda Burns said informed delivery let her know one of her packages did not arrive at her door.
"I thought it would be simple to find out who requested the mail to be delivered to a neighbor and if so, who was the neighbor it was delivered to," Burns said.
She told me she asked questions for a while
"I even called Washington D.C. at one point," she said.
But never got any answers from USPS.
Her story is similar to others.
"All the mishandling I discovered from the report on your network opened my eyes. I was again thinking, this is a bigger issue than I thought it was," Burns said.
I have been covering issues neighbors have had with delayed, missing or undelivered mail for seven months.
It's mishandling that USPS auditors discovered and detailed in their reports on four post offices in Tallahassee.
The investigation uncovered more than 30,000 delayed packages within two days in April, mail carriers not attempting deliveries, missing keys to post office drop boxes and more.
It's an investigation U.S. Representative Neal Dunn said has been a long time coming.
"it's been going on for 6, 7, 8 years that the people in Leon County have had a very hard time getting their mail," Dunn said.
He called for an investigation by the inspector general back in January.
According to the report, the audit team arrived in Tallahassee in March and stayed through the end of April.
They made recommendations to those offices to add more management oversight and training for postal workers.
I reached out to USPS to see if these recommendations were mandatory for staff and if any disciplinary action was going to be taken.
They did not address any potential consequences of the mishandling, but noted this is an initial report and a summary report with quote "recommendations for the Postal Service to address" will be issued later in the summer.
Dunn said congress is going to keep an eye on the progress.
Burns said she is glad to see some accountability.
"To hear that an investigation was going was very reassuring that something was being done to make this better," Burns said.
If you do have problems with your mail service, the team with USPS says to contact the Office of the Inspector General so they are aware of any issues going forward. You can call them at 1-888-USPS-OIG (1-888-877-7644). You can file a complaint online here.
