Congressman wants inspector general to investigate Tallahassee mail, postal service woes

Tallahassee's mail delivery problem is again coming to a head: Tallahassee's congressman now is getting involved.

He's demanding answers. He wants the U.S. Inspector General's Office on the case. And he's slamming the post office's shoddy service as "negligence."

Since 2018, subpar mail delivery has been a point of contention for Tallahassee residents, many taking their complaints to social media and elected officials.

"This isn't obviously a new problem, this time last year it was really, really bad," said Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch, who has been advocating for better mail service since his election in 2020.

He says it's only gotten worse despite efforts by the U.S. Postal Service after they conducted a facility review at the tail end of last year. That was part of a larger plan to "modernize service around the nation."

Welch said he first met with U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn a year ago, wanting to "relay the gravity of the situation." Dunn represents a swath of north Florida, including part of the Panhandle and the Big Bend.

"He very much wanted to help. He's equally sort of baffled as to why it was so bad," Welch said. "He said he would look into it and so they followed up with us."

Dunn shared with Welch a timeline describing the issues that have been ongoing. Some of these issues include stolen mail, mail not getting delivered, and even escalating to illegal check cashing.

One local woman knows acutely how bad it can be.

"On January 4th I wrote a check to the IRS and made it out to the U.S. Treasury ... and I mailed it from an official USPS mailbox," said Flora, who asked that her last name not be used in this article. "The next morning, (my husband and I) received a call from (our) bank saying our check had been intercepted."

She's unsure if the check was taken from the mailbox or intercepted by a Postal Service employee. But her issue offers an example of the kind of problems here and throughout the county that the Postal Service has not been able to solve despite their best efforts.

Now, Dunn is seeking answers: "I’ve talked to several colleagues in Congress who have similar problems in their districts," he said in a prepared statement to the Tallahassee Democrat. "This is a growing issue nationwide and it must be fixed."

He added: "The Postal Service is a unique organization, as it is both part Federal Government and part private organization. That said, I’ve asked to meet with the Postmaster General and other federal offices for help addressing USPS’s negligence."

In October, the postal service announced they would be conducting their review of the local facility as part of a 10-year plan to overhaul and modernize mail service around the nation.

Many have wondered if the Tallahassee facility would close down and if postal workers would lose their jobs.

"The initial results of the facility review support the business case for keeping the Tallahassee facility open and modernizing the facility as a Local Processing Center," said Carol Hunt, media contact for USPS. "Additionally, the business case supports transferring some mail processing operation to the Jacksonville Network Distribution Centers."

The Postal Service held a town hall at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Library recently. Mark Dahlstrom, senior director for processing operations for the Gulf Atlantic division of USPS, also shared with residents that "originating mail and package operations will move to Jacksonville in support of the future of our community."

Since the town hall there have been no updates but USPS has shared their thoughts on the congressman's call for the inspector general to get involved.

"The Postal Service is aware of the congressman's concern and ... we are responding directly" to him, Hunt said in a prepared statement.

Do you have a mail issue?

• Commissioner Welch is welcoming members of the community to share any mail issues they've experienced and send them to welchb@leoncountyfl.gov.

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee mail delivery problems: Neal Dunn wants federal probe.