‘Not properly managed:’ GA Senator tours metro Atlanta USPS distribution center tied to delays

PALMETTO, Ga. — As months-long postal delays in the metro Atlanta area have continued to impact families and businesses, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff toured a Palmetto distribution center tied to the delays.

Channel 2 Action News has been reporting on the problems Georgia families have faced, waiting weeks for mail and packages to get delivered, for months.

After touring the U.S. Postal Service facility Thursday, Ossoff gave an update about an ongoing Senate subcommittee inquiry into the problems.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes caught up with the senator Thursday afternoon to hear what he found during the facility tour in Palmetto.

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After the tour, Ossoff had harsh words, saying he’d learned the biggest problem at the center of the mail delays was incompetent management.

“It was not properly planned for, it was not properly managed. There was no one in charge and the results have been devastating for Georgia,” Ossoff said.

The senator said he’s now opening an investigation into how the facility was allowed to open when the planning was poor from the start.

Ossoff also tried to get local news cameras inside the Palmetto facility during the tour as he spoke to local USPS leaders, but the agency wouldn’t let cameras in or let anyone record the senator’s visit.

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Channel 2 Action News asked him if he got a real sense of what was happening inside of the facility.

“When a member of Congress visits and facility, it’s always prudent to assume that there’s been some preparation for your arrival,” Ossoff said.

He said while inside, he didn’t see anything that would explain the massive mail delays, but he did say that bad management is the problem and he will continue to put maximum pressure on USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to fix what’s broken.

Ossoff said it was important to get things fixed, like in cases impacting mail deliveries of medication and other business needs for residents.

A solution is needed “so that seniors in Georgia will not go without prescriptions. So that small businesses in Georgia are not unable to get supplies,” Ossoff said.

Channel 2 Action News spoke to 80-year-old Dianne Simmons, who said she’d sent a certified letter to South Carolina for a Medicare dispute.

“It took 13 days to get there,” Simmons told Fernandes. “I could’ve driven it in four hours.”

Ossoff said he’ll keep demanding updates to help Georgians like Simmons.

“The consequences of USPS failure here are about health, are about families’ abilities to sustain themselves,” Ossoff said.

People have asked why no one has fired DeJoy, but it’s not as easy as you’d think. President Joe Biden can’t fire him and Congress can’t get rid of him. The only people who can terminate him from his position are the members of the Governing Board of the USPS.

In response to the senator’s visit to Palmetto and questions from Channel 2 Action News, the USPS sent the following response on how they’re handling the delays and necessary corrections.

“Local and headquarters Postal leadership were pleased to provide a facility tour of the Palmetto Regional Processing and Distribution Center this afternoon to Senator Jon Ossoff at his request. A tour had been originally offered several months ago when the Postmaster General met with the Senator to brief him on the investments being made in the Atlanta area to overcome years of underperformance and a chaotic local network of facilities and inefficient transportation that had been allowed to evolve over the decades in a reactive, but not logical or strategic manner.

Senator Ossoff was briefed again today on the modernization and logical flow of mail that the Palmetto facility was established to create. He was briefed on the substantial improvements in processing and delivery performance that have been achieved in recovery from a disappointing implementation experience. Unfortunately, the Senator did not have the time to also tour the other facilities that feed the Palmetto plant, such as the Sorting and Delivery Center that was established in February as the first in the nation to deliver mail using Postal Service electric vehicles.

Since the first week of March, our service performance scores in the region have shown consistent improvement. Notably, First Class Composite Performance has improved by nearly 30%. While we are not entirely satisfied with the current levels, this positive trend indicates that the challenges we faced in March are being actively addressed.”

The agency also sent a longer letter to members of Georgia’s Congressional Delegation in late April which was forwarded to Channel 2 Action News along with their statement, saying it shows “significant actions” taken to enhance timely mail delivery.

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