CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Over 70,000 pieces of delayed and undelivered mail were discovered at several Charlotte area post offices and a distribution center.
The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General’s Office performed an audit of post offices in Charlotte and Concord as well as a processing and distribution center in Gastonia in April. According to a report, 19,374 delayed letters and flats and 54,880 delayed packages were discovered during the audit.
“As postal employees and, especially as union advocates, we pride ourselves on delivering the mail and making sure that things are processed,” Miriam Bell, the president of the Charlotte Area Local American Postal Workers Union, said.
Bell, who represents postal workers in North Carolina’s southern region, said it is uncommon for thousands of pieces of mail to be delayed at once. She believes recent changes to how the USPS processes mail are creating backlogs.
“The mail that was formerly processed in the local area where it was mailed to or from is now being trucked long distances hours away to be processed at a very large regional facility,” Bell said. “Then it is trucked to another area and is further processed there, or it is sent to a small post office to be delivered. That, in my opinion, is what's causing a lot of delays.”
“Now, the public has to wait longer to get a standard letter," Bell added. "It takes longer to get a package. Priority Mail, which we used to deliver most pieces within two to three days, is now taking three to seven days, sometimes longer."
The audit says the problems are because of too few workers, poor training, transportation troubles, and managers not following processing procedures.
Tiffany Alexander, a USPS expeditor and the vice president of the Charlotte Area Local American Postal Workers Union, said understaffing has been an issue for years.
“As postal employees, we come in every day to move the mail and get it to the customers,” Alexander said. “People are mistaken that, as employees, we’re not moving the mail. We're only doing what we're told.”
For USPS customers like Aundre Cole, having mail delayed can be frustrating.
“Sometimes you order Priority [Mail], and it takes three days and it's supposed to be overnight,” Cole said. “That is a major inconvenience for the shipper and for the receiver because some things are time-sensitive and need to be taken care of immediately.”
Bell said her team is working with the post offices and distribution center to ensure the issues are resolved.
The USPS North Carolina district manager says management has begun taking steps to address the audit’s findings.
A January audit of a USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Richmond, Virginia, which handles mail for northeastern North Carolina, also uncovered issues with delayed mail.
In 2021, an audit of a Raleigh post office found more than 6,000 pieces of mail were delayed due to staffing shortages and transportation issues.
USPS has not yet responded to Spectrum News 1’s request for comment.