Sen. Smith addresses Minnesota mail delays, new legislation introduced

Sen. Tina Smith told WDIO that she believes Minnesotans will be able to expect similar mail delays to the ones they saw last year through the United States Postal Service  during an interview Wednesday.

“I’m hearing from people in the North Country, and honestly all over the state, that they are in some cases going days without getting the mail that they are looking for,” explained Smith. “We had a meeting, a big meeting, yesterday in Bemidji Minnesota and we heard from postal workers, rural carriers, and others working out of the Bemidji center that are just under an unbelievable strain trying to deliver all the mail.”

Smith said that Amazon seems to be a driving factor in mail delays.

“The big strain, it seems, is that there is this surge of Amazon Packages that they weren’t expecting because they hadn’t been delivering those package before and now that’s creating an even bigger crush on people that are already doing so much.”

Efforts are being taken to try to curtail current the issues.

“I’ve just introduced a piece of legislation with Senator Klobuchar and other members of the Minnesota delegation that would require the postal service to track on a regular basis how they are doing in delivering mail,” said Sen. Smith.  “One of the problems we’ve seen is that they don’t even have reliable data about the routes everyday that are only partially completed or not completed at all.”

Smith also said that she’s be in contact with the Post Master General and will continue to push for open postal worker positions to be filled so that relief may even be seen this holiday season.