Congressmen Andrew Clyde and Mike Collins, Republicans in the Athens and northeast Georgia congressional delegation, took a Monday tour of the US Postal Service distribution center in Palmetto. It’s the postal facility that is blamed for months of mail delivery delays around the region.
From WSB TV…
A delegation of Republican Congressmen toured the beleaguered Palmetto postal facility on Monday.
When a Senate Committee led by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff grilled U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy back in April, DeJoy promised the problems would be fixed within 60 days.
On Monday, Republican Congressmen said postal officials now say it will take six to eight weeks.
Channel 2 Action News has been reporting on the problems at the Palmetto postal facility for months now.
Delivery delays, truck traffic jams, lost mail, even a malfunctioning MARS machine sending mail and packages spilling onto the floor are all part of the problem.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was there Monday afternoon as three Georgia Republican Congressmen finished up their tour of the facility.
Getting to the bottom of the problems at Palmetto has been a bipartisan effort.
Congressman Mike Collins acknowledged the issues.
“They obviously had problems delivering the mail,” he said. “They’re still having problems delivering the mail.”
Congressman Andrew Clyde said the post office had a 90% on-time delivery rate before this facility opened.
That rate fell to just 50% in March.
It’s now back up to 72%.
“They’re very convinced that within the next six to eight weeks that the first class mail delivery will be back to on-time at the same percentages that it was prior to the changes,” Congressman Austin Scott said.
The post office said they’re getting better at the Palmetto facility and said, “These long overdue improvements will also benefit the more than 18,500 Georgians who are employed by the USPS, enhancing their working conditions and job satisfaction.”