USPS mail concerns reaching 'a fever pitch', head of North Dakota Newspaper Association says

The National Newspaper Association’s move late last month to forward a series of complaints to the Postal Regulatory Commission will hopefully add impact to calls from the association and elsewhere for postal reform, the head of the North Dakota Newspaper Association said.

Cecile Wehrman, executive director of the NDNA, said the postal concerns are impacting not just newspaper readers in North Dakota, but nationwide

The hope is that the national association’s recent effort – announced Friday – will help, she said.

“I think it’s fair to say the postal complaints are reaching a fever pitch,” she said in a Monday email to the state’s newspaper leaders.

In a subsequent interview, she said, “I don't know how many more people can holler and how much louder, but I hope it helps.”

On Friday, National Newspaper Association (NNA) Executive Director Lynne Lance issued a statement that noted the NNA “delivered letters from more than 200 newspaper titles to the Postal Regulatory Commission, complaining about inadequate mail delivery and escalating postage rates.”

Community newspapers, the statement said, have seen a 35 percent to 50 percent increase in postage costs in the past four years.

NNA members were asked in recent months to detail their concerns to the organization.

According to the NNA statement Friday, the “responses registered a state of alarm on the future of the industry, specific complaints about delivery failures, losses of subscribers and unresponsive local postal authorities when delivery was not properly executed.”

In North Dakota and Minnesota, the concerns expand beyond just newspaper delivery, according to various media sources and members of those states’ federal delegations.

Last month, the Grand Forks Herald reported that a United States Postal Service audit found more than 100,000 pieces of delayed mail during an audit of locations in Minnesota (St. Paul, Apple Valley, New Brighton and Eagan) and North Dakota (Bismarck, Mandan and Minot).

The Herald report, citing the audit’s findings, noted that “many of the issues stemmed from low staffing levels across these facilities – an issue compounded by ‘the low unemployment rate, applicant residency issues and the competition from postal service competitors.’ ”

North Dakota’s federal delegation – Sen. John Hoeven, Sen. Kevin Cramer and Rep. Kelly Armstrong – issued a joint statement about the audit.

“The completion of this audit shines a light on the challenges facing postal delivery across our state, but the work does not stop with the release of the audit,” the delegation said in a uniform statement sent to the media. “The postal service needs to implement the inspector general’s recommendations in a timely way to ensure homes and businesses receive their mail, packages and other deliveries without delay. That’s exactly what we will continue working to accomplish, while also holding USPS leadership accountable to make sure they address local concerns and that any changes to mail processing and other postal operations in our state actually result in benefits to local residents.”

Hoeven last week said he hopes to set up another public meeting in Grand Forks – one that this time will include more actual give-and-take between residents and postal employees.

In December, the USPS hosted a meeting in Grand Forks to discuss proposed changes in Grand Forks, including repositioning the local facility from a regional distribution center into a local processing center. The USPS did little to announce the meeting – apparently only alerting one Fargo TV station – and also didn’t reach out to city officials, including Mayor Brandon Bochenski. At the meeting, the USPS employees who were there refused to answer questions from the few who were in attendance.

Hoeven last week told the Herald he wants to set up another meeting, this time with USPS Minnesota-North Dakota District Manager Angela Bye and Midwest Senior Director of Processing Kathy Hand.

“It’s really important both in terms of people having a chance to give input and get questions asked and I think it's really important the USPS hears what’s going on with people,” Hoeven said.

He also said “the objective is to get better, more dependable mail service,” pointing in particular to the impact on rural customers. “The service is not where it needs to be.”