In Case You Missed It: Kaine Leads Charge On Mail Delays, Disruptions

WASHINGTON, D.C.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine led his colleagues, including Senator Mark R. Warner and Representatives Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04), Bobby Scott (D-VA-3), Rob Wittman (R-VA-01), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), Bob Good (R-VA-05), and Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02), in sending a letter to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Inspector General (IG) sharing stories of Postal Service disruptions and delays across Virginia.

The USPS OIG is currently auditing the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) in Sandston because the center is one of the first processing centers in the country that was opened to centralize outgoing mail and package processing. The USPS OIG is expected to release their report and recommendations soon that will assess the efficacy and operational impacts of the changes.

“Since last summer, we have seen a significant uptick in mail disruptions and delays within the Richmond RPDC’s covered area. These developments are especially concerning as the Richmond RPDC was one of the first implemented consolidation projects as a part of USPS’s Delivering for America initiative. While we are always open to changes to longstanding practices to improve efficiency, the ongoing stream of reports we get suggests that the opposite is happening,” wrote the lawmakers.

“In an effort to advocate for our constituents and help inform your investigation, we would like to highlight some examples that our offices have received of mail problems that have cost people significant time, money, and frustration,” the lawmakers continued.

In their letter, they highlighted recent examples of USPS delivery issues, For example, since all mail from Norfolk goes first to Richmond and then comes back, it often creates delays in delivery of New Journal and Guide newspapers to local subscribers.

Examples across the state include a constituent in Mechanicsville, a medical supply business owner in Richmond, county officials in the Northern Neck and  a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. The members wrote:

“Ron, a Vietnam veteran from Mechanicsville, Virginia, placed an order through the Department of Veterans Affairs for medication and was told to expect a 7–10-day delivery time. Over six weeks later, he had still not received his medications despite verification from the Department of Veterans Affairs that it was mailed on December 28, 2023.”

“Lys, who operates a medical supply business in Richmond, Virginia, notified us that over $1,000 of medical supplies were never delivered after having been traced to the Richmond RPDC on December 18, 2023. After multiple inquiries with the USPS, the constituent not only never recovered the supplies, but their business relationship with a key distributor ended as a result.”

“County officials in the Northern Neck region of Virginia reported receiving mail a month after it had been initially postmarked, and in some cases, mail was not delivered at all. These disruptions have had significant impacts on tax collections and operations.”

“Micah, a PhD student at Virginia Commonwealth University, counted on USPS to deliver his visa application to the Italian Consulate as is needed to acquire a student visa to Italy. However, the entire package, including his passport, was lost in transit having never left Richmond. The significant delays in delivery necessitates him to obtain a new passport and while his package including his old passport was eventually delivered to the Italian consulate, the resulting delays cost Micah hundreds of dollars and weeks of uncertainty about his academic future.”

In February, Kaine held a roundtable in Richmond to discuss USPS issues. In January, he led a bipartisan group of his colleagues in pressing USPS on mail delivery delays and disruptions impacting Virginians in the Richmond region and raised concerns about reports that the Richmond VA Medical Center received hundreds of colon cancer test samples that were unusable because of delivery delays. Last year, Kaine wrote to USPS pressing them to address mail delivery issues in Virginia.