Central ND News

Published in the Fargo Forum on May 28, 2024

Regardless of their ZIP code, North Dakotans depend on timely, reliable mail service. Whether delivering packages, medication, or financial documents, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) plays an essential role in supporting our quality of life and economy. That’s why we continually monitor the state of the postal service, taking the concerns of local citizens to USPS officials to help resolve issues. At the same time, we’re working to help our mail carriers overcome the challenges they face. We deeply appreciate their dedication and hard work, which often comes with long hours and inclement weather.

Unfortunately, communities across North Dakota have seen prolonged delays in mail service resulting from an array of issues, including natural disasters and employee recruitment and retention. Many of these issues are understandably difficult to avoid and affect businesses of all kinds. However, given the vital role that the postal service fulfills in our society, we need leaders at USPS to carefully consider the policies they implement and consult with their customers and local stakeholders who will be impacted.

The USPS’ public engagement in the lead-up to its Mail Processing Facility Review (MPFR), which would have moved some mail processing out of local communities like Bismarck and Grand Forks to more distant hubs, was severely lacking. USPS officials gave little notice of their public meetings, failed to inform local media, and refused to answer questions. In response, we successfully pressed Postmaster General DeJoy to delay implementation of these mail processing changes until 2025.

At the same time, we called for an expanded audit of postal operations in the Minnesota-North Dakota District, which is currently being undertaken by the USPS Inspector General (IG). This will provide an opportunity to learn more about the current issues facing mail delivery in our state so they can be properly addressed. Initially, this audit was only going to take a partial look at our state, only considering facilities in Bismarck, Mandan, and Minot. Due to our efforts, the IG agreed to expand the scope of this audit to help address additional facilities in Dickinson, Grand Forks, and Fargo and cover a broader range of concerns. These include mail and newspaper delays; broken and unavailable cluster box units (CBUs); and ongoing concerns regarding changes to mail processing.

Our offices were briefed on the interim results of the audit and gave additional feedback to the IG which had found delayed mail and other operational deficiencies at each facility reviewed so far. The IG has made a range of recommendations for district management and currently expects to release full results of the audit in June. This comes as an important milestone in our efforts to ensure timely mail service for North Dakota’s residents and businesses; but there is more work ahead. We will continue holding USPS accountable for following through on recommended improvements while pressing its leadership in Washington D.C., fully understanding policy impacts before risking any harm to local communities' mail services.

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