Based on Stories from Senator’s Fix My Mail Effort, Heitkamp Requests Mail Improvements to Address North Dakotans’ Concerns
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp called on the U.S. Postal Service to make needed changes to address strong concerns expressed by North Dakotans about their mail service and standards.
During the past two months, Heitkamp has encouraged North Dakotans who are experiencing problems with their mail delivery to send in their stories via her website. Heitkamp has received well over 100 stories from North Dakotans from across the state about the difficulties they face with mail delivery and standards. Heitkamp shared those stories with U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahue and called on him to correct problems and issues raised.
“The way the U.S. Postal Service operates right now, specifically in North Dakota, is unacceptable,” said Heitkamp. “Since launching Fix My Mail in January, I’ve heard shocking stories from folks from Grand Forks to Dickinson about problems they have faced with their mail. Improving rural service standards, implementing common-sense changes at post offices such as expanding hours of operation where necessary, and improving management within USPS in North Dakota and across the country are all crucial to getting the Postal Service back on the right track. I’ll continue to adamantly press the Postal Service to address these issues and make much-needed changes so more reliable mail delivery becomes the norm in North Dakota.”
The western part of North Dakota has undergone vast and rapid expansion in housing and population because of increased energy production, in part causing disruption in mail delivery services. However, Heitkamp is determined to push USPS one step at a time to improve these services for North Dakotans in the west and all across the state.
Throughout her Fix My Mail initiative, Heitkamp has heard not only from postal customers but also a number of postal employees. These employees raised serious concerns regarding the conditions postal workers in North Dakota face every day. These stories have prompted Heitkamp to additionally ask the USPS Inspector General to investigate these issues, including poor working conditions, lack of training, and management that has not taken sufficient initiative to improve situations.
In February, Heitkamp helped advance comprehensive postal reform out of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee after the panel adopted key changes she made to the legislation that will improve mail service in rural communities throughout North Dakota.
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I’m sure that the senator knows the problem is widespread. She can only do stuff in state though unless she introduces legislation that will force change on the USPS, which she should do, along with as many other senators as possible signing their support. Squeaky wheels get the grease, and customers have more influence on the piss poor service than they know.
We employees can vent anonymously on web sites like this, but our communications with management are nil. Management has such a negative attitude toward craft employees that they think we’re all a bunch of idiots just waiting to do whatever we can to screw up the Service. Fact is it’s the craft who are keeping the USPS afloat, and the scumbag crooked and corrupt management is totally dependent on craft for their own job security.
They know this and to quantify their own sense of accomplishments they create a horrendous trail of overkill paperwork, stupid repetitive tasks for lower ranks to do and anything they can think up to try to impress their higher ups how indispensable they are.
The customer needs to write and call their lawmakers and media in record numbers to try to get through to somebody that major reform must include getting rid of Donohoe to start with. He has singlehandedly put the Service in more trouble than any PMG in history. The cronyism and nepotism in the high ranks is toxic, and there must be a concerted effort to replace these imbeciles with real executives with real business experience. One punk ass I know who is barely 30 now was my carrier technician, and was the worst I ever had. He had, among other things, been involved in three at fault accidents while on probation, deliberately dumped mail in a collection box rather than carry the swing he was assigned to, bragged about watching entire basketball games at a restaurant/bar on company time and scattered mail all over the place.
But he had an uncle and his dad in high places, and in no time after much ass kissing, snitching on fellow employees and other crap he soon got into a supervisor position, went on to be a PM and is now a plant manager.
His younger sister was a carrier for barely a year or two and is a PM too. It’s all connections. And we wonder why the USPS is so poorly run.
His name is more like Donadope…Just Sayin’…
Over time every day ,man
It ain’t just happening in ND Senator.
You have the GALL to think this is just happening in NORTH DAKOTA???
Open your eyes…..
30 year vet here
If you don’t like how USPS delivers in ND, use fedex or ups, oh wait even if you use fedex, ups the USPS still delivers because it cost a fortune to deliver up in them thar hills!!!!!
His name is Donahoe, not Donahue.
It’s not just ND where first class mail standards are being blown, big time. It now takes a FCM letter mailed in FL to Boston 4 to 5 days after mailing, to actually be delivered. Got a feeling all the plants that have been closed down in the Boston Metro area might have something to do with this. Ya think? Whatever happened to the one day, two days or three days maximum service standard for FCM? Somebody’s fudging or burying the ODIS tests, or whatever they use to measure service performance today. This service failure has happened several times to me, it’s not a fluke. Very sad state of affairs. But I’m sure all the weekly junk mail flyers are going out on time with the carriers, for the mailer’s “requested in home delivery date”. These folks pay peanuts for postage per piece, and expect Cadillac service. The rates these direct mail marketers are paying give USPS paper thin margins over cost. Elephant Plaza has been co-oped by these guys because they are such a big and loud special interest lobbyist group.