Recent audits conducted by the Postal Service Inspector General show Leon County post offices are dealing with a lack of oversight, safety concerns and staffing issues. The audits were conducted at the request of U.S Representative Neal Dunn, after years of complaints from Leon County residents over missing and late mail.
The audits found problems related to late and missing mail, staffing, and safety issues.
“The Inspector General has confirmed what the people of North Florida already know, their regional USPS service is unreliable and does not meet the national standard,” said Congressman Dunn. “This unacceptable failure at USPS facilities has resulted in poor service, missing letters and packages, and other problems that have disrupted life for the entire community. I’m pleased that my office could deliver results for Leon County and help uncover these egregious flaws. I am grateful to the people of Tallahassee and Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch for working with me to address these inefficiencies, and I look forward to getting them resolved.”
Welch told TR the audits validates the concerns he has heard about from his constituents.
The Audits
There were 4 comprehensive audits conducted at facilities within the Big Bend region including the Tallahassee Processing and Distribution Facility (P&DF), Westside Station, Lake Jackson and Leon Station.
The P&DF audit reports that from March 1st 2023, to February 29th, 2024, there were 33,672 outbound trips from the P&DF facility. Of those outbound trips, there were 3,242 late trips, 388 canceled trips and 548 extra trips. The audit states, “The missed clearance times and late outbound trips were due to employee schedules not aligning with the processing schedule. Specifically, not enough staff were scheduled to run processing machines during peak operation times. This caused the machines to run past their scheduled processing.”
The audit also featured pictures of piled mail left on processing machines, and explained that between April 3rd and 4th, 2024, 3,304 mail pieces were “left behind on machines after operations”.
The audit found there were a total of 30,685 delayed mail pieces from April 2nd through April 4th 2024. The audit noted, “The delayed mail and incomplete reporting in the MCV system was primarily due to a lack of management oversight. Supervisors did not verity that employees reran mail on the machines prior to sending the manual operations nor swept for mail pieces left behind after sorting operations were completed … Additionally, management did not provide oversight to ensure all mail containers had a placard at the facility.”
The audit also addressed safety violations at the P&DF. The audit reported that “Employees at the Tallahassee P&DF did not consistently follow safety rules to properly secure trucks and trailers at the docks and keep electric panel and exit doors free from obstructions. Management acknowledged that they did not provide sufficient oversight to ensure safety rules were consistently followed.”
The audit concluded that most of the problems stem from the same issue, lack of management oversight and lack of staffing.
Now that the comprehensive audit reports have been completed, target implementation dates related to corrective actions have been set over the next six months.
Leon County Postal Audit Reveals Problems, Lack of Oversight added by Staff on
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Their latest trick is to claim a package was delivered. That’s what the vendors selling the goods believe. But if you track the package directly at the USPS site (rather than the vendor), you will see “item has been delivered to an agent for final delivery”. That adds three or four more days to the actual delivery date. This happened to me yesterday. Package was “out for delivery” and although one envelope ended up in my mailbox, the package did not. It was “delivered” to an agent. Oh, and the price of a first class stamp goes up a nickel come July. I guess that’s how they can afford to pay these “agents”.
Adams Street Post Office Issues:
01) We have to Renew our PO Boxes ON-LINE now but their System isn’t working. All they do is give you a Phone Number, that NO ONE answers and they just tell you to keep trying.
02) We get Certified Mail Daily that HAS TO BE Responded to with in 10 Days. In the past 18 Months, many Times, we have gone a week or more with out receiving any Certified Mail. When we asked about it, their answer was “The guy who handles Certified Mail is on Vacation.
03) At Home, I have a Sign on my Front Door that says to put Packages under my Bay Window so the Package can NOT be seen from the Road. Not only does my Mail Carrier (from same Post Office) put the Packages directly in front of my Door for the whole World to see, She will also put my Letters on top of the Package for the Wind to blow them all over my Yard.