News Comes Day After Senator Pressed Head of U.S. Postal Service on Needed Improvements to Chronic Delivery Problems in Fargo & Across ND in a Senate Hearing

1/22/16 GRAND FORKS, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the Senate committee overseeing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), today announced that the contract with a Woodhaven mail carrier in South Fargo would be terminated effective immediately to seek a new, more reliable contractor who will provide improved mail delivery and service to the area. The terminated mail carrier will be replaced in the interim by a mail carrier with 30 years of experience.

The announcement comes in response to complaints from many South Fargo residents not receiving their mail, often because it had been delivered to the wrong home in their neighborhood. And it comes just one day after Heitkamp pressed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan about the immediate need to address the severe mail delivery issues residents in South Fargo have experienced in recent months. When urging action from the U.S. Postal Service at a Senate hearing yesterday, Heitkamp explained that South Fargo residents are resorting to online groups to sort out lost or undelivered mail. At the hearing, Brennan committed to Heitkamp’s request to look closely at the geographical needs of rural America, particularly across North Dakota. Since December, Heitkamp and her staff have been working directly with residents of Woodhaven to help resolve their mail delivery challenges. Today, the USPS District Manager for North Dakota and South Dakota announced that effective immediately, the agreement with the current Woodhaven mail carrier would be terminated, and that an interim mail carrier would be instated.

“It’s great news that after months of frustration and uncertainty, the residents of Woodhaven are finally getting the accountability they deserve from the U.S. Postal Service,” said Heitkamp. “This announcement follows months of frustration from the South Fargo residents I’ve been working with since December to address the serious problems with mail delivery. And yesterday, I urged the head of the U.S. Postal Service to immediately address their chronic mail delivery problems. By bringing this issue to the forefront, we now have needed action from the Postal Service. This is good news for South Fargo, and I’ll follow up to make sure mail delivery improves. But there are still rural communities across North Dakota that face excessive delays with mail delivery and other service problems, and that must change. I’ll keep fighting to hold the Postal Service and Congress accountable by working to implement policies that will improve and protect mail delivery for years to come.”