MISSION HILL — Last summer, state and city leaders headed off the closure of the post office at the base of Mission Hill. Wednesday, Sen. Edward Markey used the facility as a backdrop for a press conference about problems with the U.S. Postal Service -- which is about to enter its busiest time of year.
“Right now, USPS stands for unreliable, slow, persistently stalled,” said Markey. “And we must once again fight to make it stand for universal and swift public service. I am constantly hearing reports from residents of egregiously delivered mail, closed post office locations, weeks of lost mail and so much more.”
Markey, a frequent critic of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, again called for his resignation. DeJoy, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, serves at the pleasure of the Postal Service Board of Governors, made up of presidential appointees. During his tenure, USPS embarked on a ten-year-plan known as ‘Delivering for America,’ which aims to forestall a projected $160 billion debt by 2030.
Part of that plan has involved the modernization of sorting to accommodate 60 million items a day and the renewal of the USPS truck fleet to improve reliability and environmental impact. The USPS hopes to improve its on-time delivery to 95% by 2030. As of last fall, on-time rates ranged from 85 to 94%, according to agency statistics.
But some charge those metrics have been skewed to look better than they really are.
“Across Boston, once a week, if not once a month, important mail like medications and checks are delayed on a consistent basis,” said Markey. “These are unacceptable and USPS management needs to seriously step up and change course or just ship out because they are not getting the job done. They are not delivering the mail which people desperately need.”
In addition to calling for DeJoy’s resignation, Markey said he wants to see an end to service changes at the USPS that also result in staff losses, zip code-level data in Massachusetts to get to the root cause of inequitable service and requiring postmaster generals to be directly accountable to Congress.
“This is one of those things that people won’t realize what they had until it’s gone,” said Scott Hoffman, National Business Agent for the American Postal Carriers Union. “It took 250 years or so to build up the infrastructure of the postal service. It was built that way so it could reach every house on every street in every town, every day.”
Hoffman said DeJoy’s moves to economize delivery and streamline operations have resulted in worse, not better, mail delivery.
“What he’s doing is, he’s setting up to break down the postal service so that each leg of the journey he spreads it out,” Hoffman said. “In Brockton, they used to collect the mail, cancel it, sort it in Brockton and get it out to you the next day. Now their proposal is to send it down to Providence, Rhode Island.”
Hoffman also claims postal trucks are not going out until full -- which further delays deliveries. “The postal system is similar to a sewer system,” he said. “It has to keep flowing.”
One of those attending the press conference, Mitch Hilton, worked as a letter carrier for 35 years. He said that missed deliveries to his address on Mission Hill are not uncommon.
“”All I ask is my mail be delivered,” he said. “I’m retired. I do some part-time work. I rely on paychecks that come through the mail.”
Hilton said he has an idea why service, in his opinion, has suffered.
“It’s about shortage of staff, what they pay them and it’s about working conditions,” he said. “But it doesn’t excuse the fact almost 20% of the time I do not get mail delivery.”
Boston 25 News contacted the USPS local media contact Wednesday afternoon, but at press time had not heard back.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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