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Politics and Government News
Cari Spencer

Minnesota post office report shows deficiencies, spurs statewide audit

A mail box outside a post office.
Mailboxes are seen outside of a U.S. Post Office in Washington. An audit of Minnesota post office branches found delayed mail, safety issues and deficiencies in property conditions.
Mandel Ngan | AFP via Getty Images 2020

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Updated: 2:55 p.m.

An audit of Minnesota post office branches found delayed mail, safety issues and deficiencies in property conditions. Now, the U.S. Postal Service says it will perform an audit of the entire Minnesota-North Dakota District.

The initial audit looked at branches in Apple Valley, Eagan and New Brighton, as well as the St. Paul processing and distribution center, during a week in November, according to the USPS Office of Inspector General’s report. 

The audits cited nearly 140,000 pieces of delayed mail, a lack of resources from management and poor security issues at the Eagan and Apple Valley facilities.

For more than a year, thousands of Minnesotans have complained to their legislators that they’re not receiving their mail on time. In December, U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar penned a letter, calling on the Inspector General to perform a statewide audit. Earlier this month, Minnesota’s House delegation sent their own. 

Klobuchar said the audit provides evidence of what her constituents have been telling her and other legislators who pushed for the audit.

“We know that one-quarter of the outbound trips from the St. Paul processing center were delayed,” Klobuchar said. “And they actually have some recommendations to reduce the number of late trips, to fix the transportation schedules, so there’s not so much congestion at the docks, which exacerbates the problem.”

She anticipates the next audit will reveal issues in Bemidji and Rochester, too.  

“What we all have heard is just late mail,” she said. “Things like medications and letters for grandma’s birthday and mortgage checks. You just can’t mess around. People rely on the postal service every day.” 

At the St. Paul processing and distribution center, reviewers identified over 56,000 pieces of delayed mail over a three-day period. In Apple Valley, reviewers found 29,000 pieces of mail delayed on one day. And at Eagan, more than 53,000 delays were found on one day.  

The review also investigated the tracking and handling of packages. Among a sample of 60 packages at the Eagan post office, half were not scanned or were handled improperly.  That included ten packages that were not returned to the sender as intended, ranging from two to 37 days past their scheduled return dates. 

Issues with tracking and scanning were found at other branches, as well. In Apply Valley, 223 packages were scanned incorrectly over a 3-month period. That included a carrier logging a package as “delivered” 3.5 miles away from where it was supposed to go. 

In New Brighton, where over 14,000 pieces of mail were delayed one morning, management marked 41 percent of that mail as undelivered in their system.  

At each branch, and for most issues outlined in the audit, the review pointed to a common culprit: bad management. In many incidents, the investigation found that management failed to provide adequate resources, oversight or scheduling.  

In New Brighton and Eagan, management blamed attendance issues for the delays. At the St. Paul processing and distribution center, the review determined that management did not ensure enough staff was on hand to sort mail in time for delivery.  

“Delayed mail and failures to report it, package delivery issues, and systemic understaffing are just the beginning,” said U.S. Sen. Tina Smith in a statement. “Minnesotans have been raising the alarm that mail service isn’t as reliable as it needs to be, but the Postal Service continues to act like everything is working as it should.” 

While many Minnesotans have long complained to Klobuchar and other legislators about delayed mail, the audit also illuminated another issue many constituents were not aware of: security issues.  

At each branch, the review spotted improper practices that could lead to a higher risk of mail theft. At the St. Paul processing and distribution center, auditors watched an employee leave a sack of registered mail unattended on a dock platform for 20 minutes.  

Registered mail is supposed to be the most secure USPS postal service. 

Klobuchar said along with improved management, personnel training and hiring are also key to bringing better mail service to Minnesotans. 

“We need to keep hiring personnel for the post office,” Klobuchar said. “That means positing jobs right away and getting the hiring done.” 

The audit is expected to be completed in the coming months.