Casey has repeatedly pushed for answers from DeJoy for PA constituents after vague and insufficient answers from Postal Service on several matters, from worker pay to tardy ballots
Casey: “Pennsylvanians…deserve postal service they can count on.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a letter to United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy expressing concerns about the potentially negative effects of the Postal Service’s consolidation efforts on Pennsylvania postal workers and residents. Casey pressed Postmaster General DeJoy for clear and concise answers on behalf of frustrated Pennsylvania postal workers and residents experiencing significant issues, including significant shifts in operations that may affect mail delivery times and election ballots for residents in Lancaster County that were delivered late.
“The Postal Service has long been a vital resource to our communities, which depend on its safe, trusted, and secure mail delivery for distributing important information and bringing people together from all corners of the world. Pennsylvanians are sick and tired of delayed paychecks, bills, prescription drugs, and more. They deserve postal service they can count on,” Senator Casey wrote.
Senator Casey has a long record of pushing the Postal Service to remedy mail service issues in the Lehigh Valley. In 2020, Senator Casey conducted an investigation into significant delivery delays of mail-order prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, Casey secured an audit of the Lehigh Valley facility after being turned away when he tried to visit months earlier. In March 2022, Senator Casey worked to pass the Postal Service Reform Act into law. This bipartisan law implemented reforms to improve the accountability, transparency, and sustainability of the Postal Service.
In October 2022, Senator Casey sent a letter to the Postmaster General to address systemic problems with mail delivery throughout Pennsylvania, particularly the Germantown Post Office in Philadelphia and the White Haven Post Office in Luzerne County. At the same time, Senator Casey also requested an audit by the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in Philadelphia area post offices to investigate these mail delays. Within a month, USPS OIG responded to Senator Casey’s request by sharing that they would conduct an audit in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This audit found thousands of pieces of mail were delayed and sitting at the post office. In October 2023, Senator Casey sent a letter to USPS calling on it to fix a payroll disruption causing some rural Pennsylvania mail carriers to miss or only partially receive their September 1 paychecks.
Read the full letter HERE or below:
March 13, 2024
Dear Postmaster General DeJoy:
In recent years, I have received an alarming uptick in outreach regarding concerns with the state of the United States Postal Service (USPS), both from the employees who proudly serve the Postal Service and the constituents who rely on its promise of reliable and accessible services. While I understand the broader vision of the USPS Delivering for America Ten-Year Plan, I have concerns with implementation of this plan and its consequences for Pennsylvania’s postal workers and mail delivery services. I write to ask that you provide more details into the reasoning behind USPS’s specific plans in the Commonwealth to each of the impacted communities, heed the concerns of postal carriers and Pennsylvanians who use the Postal Service, and provide more information on how the Postal Service’s actions and proposals will affect Pennsylvanians more broadly.
Consolidation efforts in the Commonwealth have been an area of concern among residents and postal workers. I understand that the Postal Service recently announced that it will be transferring some of the Lehigh Valley Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) mail processing operations to the Harrisburg P&DC by transitioning the facility into a Local Processing Center. I also am aware of concerns with another facility review being undertaken for the Johnstown P&DC, suggesting that the facility be shifted to a Local Processing Center as well. While I have seen the data from the Postal Service’s facility reviews on these proposals, suggesting projected annual savings to USPS and no career layoffs, I have concerns about the impact on non-career employees as well as with the quality of services received by residents served by the facilities as they currently exist.
I am also concerned about some of the United States Postal Service’s proposals and actions in light of recent incidents that have created difficulties for postal carriers and Pennsylvania residents reliant on timely mail delivery. Last fall, I wrote to you regarding the payroll disruptions that impacted rural postal carriers in the Commonwealth and across the Nation, resulting in roughly 53,000 rural carriers either missing or only partially receiving their paychecks. I was also troubled to hear about reports from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that over 100 ballots postmarked over a week prior to the 2023 election day were not delivered in time to be counted in the 2023 elections, and, despite my requests, I have yet to receive further information and clarity on this situation. I have also been made aware of the Postal Service’s streamlining efforts leading to the cancellation of some of its charter contracts for mail transport.
It is my understanding that the changes in Pennsylvania have happened rapidly, and in some cases, without sufficient explanation or notice. Optimizing the postal service is a reasonable goal, but rapid shifts that shortchange dedicated postal workers or compromise the successful delivery of the mail is not optimization, it’s intentional impairment. This only creates additional hurdles for mail carriers who provide a critical service and for the communities they serve.
To improve outcomes and transparency for workers and residents, I request that the Postal Service:
- Communicate clearly and directly with those impacted by enacted and proposed changes to offer greater transparency into these decisions and provide more clarity to workers and residents so that they can better understand how they will be impacted.
- Provide the opportunity for impacted workers and communities to provide feedback that receives sincere consideration by decision makers within the Postal Service.
- Provide concrete detail on the supposed efficiency gains that are motivating these changes so that my constituents can report back on whether those supposed gains come to fruition in the future.
The Postal Service has long been a vital resource to our communities, which depend on its safe, trusted, and secure mail delivery for distributing important information and bringing people together from all corners of the world. Pennsylvanians are sick and tired of delayed paychecks, bills, prescription drugs, and more. They deserve postal service they can count on.
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