INDIANAPOLIS — The clock is ticking for USPS to find a fix for its troubled distribution hub, a site that has struggled with delays over the past several weeks to the point where Indiana’s entire Congressional Delegation has gotten involved.
“It’s affecting most of our constituents and we need a solution,” Rep. Jefferson Shreve (R-Indiana) said.
In a bipartisan move, all lawmakers representing Indiana in D.C. signed Shreve’s letter sent to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy earlier this month. In it, lawmakers demanded DeJoy look into delays plaguing the hub in Indianapolis.
“It is, in candor, a poor, poorly executed rollout of a newer distribution center,” Shreve said. “From the day I came into the office, the phone calls from upset customers, constituents had been coming in.”
It’s a problem with such widespread consequences that every single member of Indiana’s Congressional Delegation we spoke to said they’re getting phone calls.
“I’ve heard from a number of people in my district, including veterans who are missing their medications,” Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-Indiana) said.
“They had mail delays that were resulting in paychecks not getting delivered,” Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Indiana) said.
”We’ve had calls from small businesses that even after Black Friday, they sent 250 packages,” Rep. Jim Baird (R-Indiana) said. “Two weeks later, those are still sitting in that hub.”
According to several lawmakers, what’s happening with Indy’s hub could indicate a larger problem within USPS.
”It could be, because this large distribution center is one of a number—I believe something like 60 larger consolidated distribution centers—that the Postal Service is in the process of standing up,” Shreve said.
”Unfortunately, right now, the only recourse that people have is to contact us,” Houchin said. ”We contact the post office and we try to move things along. There has to be a better answer than that.”
According to Shreve, USPS has committed to providing an explanation and a game plan next week.
”That we’ve gotten a response and a timeline commitment is satisfying,” Shreve said. “But we don’t have a solution yet.”
”We cannot afford to have this drag on for quite some time, so we’d like to see a very quick resolution,” Yakym said.
This comes as the next leader of USPS has yet to be decided. Earlier this month, Postmaster General DeJoy announced he would step down. A statement he released reads in part:
“…I am extremely proud of the 640,000 men and women of the United States Postal Service who live, work and serve in every American community…I look forward to working with them during my remaining time here.”
