Rep. Waxman Raises Constituents’ Poor Mail Service with the U.S. Postmaster General and Inspector General

Last fall, my district office began to receive an unprecedented number of complaints from our community about extremely late mail delivery, misdelivery and, in some cases, no delivery.

I have now opened hundreds of cases from constituents who reported serious problems about poor mail service. As the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform—which has jurisdiction over the United States Postal Service (USPS)—I have launched an investigation into the reasons for this drastic deterioration in service. I have met with the Postmaster General, John Potter, to detail the problems and to obtain his commitment to a long-term solution. More recently, I wrote to the USPS Inspector General, David Williams, to request an investigation to identify the cause of the continuing delays at the Los Angeles mail processing center. 

A number of factors are to blame of the unsatisfactory service, including staffing shortages, transportation problems, and the closing of a processing facility. Please know that I will continue to press the postal service until we have a long-term solution to these problems. In the meantime, please keep reporting your concerns to my Los Angles office so I can bring them to the attention of the postal service.

Letters to Postmaster General

Letter to Inspector General

Statement Before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service,
and the District of Columbia Field Hearing on Mail Problems