Raleigh customers’ mail and packages delayed by staffing shortages, COVID, audit finds

Staffing issues and overburdened routes at a Raleigh post office delayed the delivery of thousands of pieces of mail and packages, an audit found.

Inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General conducted the audit of the Avent Ferry Station at 2100 Lake Dam Road in Raleigh over three months, from November 2020 to January 2021, according to the report.

On a site visit in November, inspectors found an estimated 6,048 “letters and flats” and 182 packages had still not been sent out for delivery that day. The delays spanned 27 city routes and four rural routes, according to the report.

Staff at the station blamed the delays on a shortage of employees and overburdened delivery routes, according to the report. As of Jan. 19, there were 21 unfilled positions at the post office: 17 full-time carrier positions, two full-time clerk positions and two management positions.

Philip Bogenberger, a spokesman for the Postal Service, declined to comment Tuesday when The News & Observer asked how many people currently work at the station and how many vacancies remain.

In a Jan. 12 response included in the audit report, Greensboro District Manager Russell Gardner agreed with all findings, and said the office would be taking steps to ensure stricter adherence to protocols and to begin hiring new staff.

Philip Rubio, a professor of history at North Carolina A&T State University who has studied the Postal Service extensively, said 17 full-time carrier vacancies and seven overburdened routes would have a large impact on station operations.

“I’ve carried those kinds of routes,” said Rubio, who worked as a mail carrier for the Postal Service for 20 years before turning to academia. “It was hopeless to get it done in eight hours.”

He added that the past year has introduced other difficulties for postal workers nationwide, like an uptick in mail as people rely more on deliveries amid the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages exacerbated by workers forced to quarantine and cost-cutting measures implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that caused delays across the country.

The Office of Inspector General has released seven mail delivery and processing related audit reports since November — including the Raleigh audit — with additional reported concerns in Illinois, Texas, Missouri and New Hampshire.

“What we’re seeing here locally is part of a larger story,” Rubio said. “But if there’s any silver lining in all this, it’s that outrage can and often does produce positive results.”

COVID-19 concerns

The audit revealed an array of problems that affected how mail was delivered to people in a timely manner.

The audit noted that inspections of seven overburdened routes had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Station management said management vacancies also had caused delays in reporting delayed mail. Only 375 pieces of delayed mail had been reported Nov. 16, one day before the site visit, where inspectors found the actual total was over 6,200 pieces.

During a period from May to September, inspectors found 41,548 packages had been improperly scanned at the station, rather than the delivery site. All but 181 of those were marked “delivered” before leaving the station, according to the audit.

Inspectors noted that people rely on scan data to track their packages, and that incorrect scanning can make it difficult for them to determine the status of their packages.

In the report, inspectors said scanning issues “occurred because district and local management did not adequately monitor and enforce package scanning and handling procedures.” The station manager had only been there for two months and was unaware issues were occurring, the report added.

Other concerns noted in the report included unsecured vehicles susceptible to theft and a lack of enforcement of COVID-19 safety protocols at the station.

Employees were reluctant to wear masks, hand soap and paper towels were not provided in the station restroom, and daily cleanings were not regularly conducted, according to the audit report.

Manager agreed with audit findings

Bogenberger declined to comment on what action had been taken in the six weeks since Gardner’s response, pointing to it as the Postal Service’s official response. He also noted DeJoy’s remarks before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform last month, in which DeJoy spoke generally about the challenges facing the Service, and its commitment to addressing its shortcomings.

The Postal Service declined an N&O request to speak with the Raleigh Postmaster, and did not respond to multiple requests to speak with Gardner.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 5:11 PM.