Senator Reverend Warnock led Georgia delegation members in urging U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General to expand its audit of the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto

Senator Reverend Warnock also pressed the United States Postal Service on plans to address ongoing issues with the implementation of their “Delivering for America” plan and its effectiveness on Georgians

Senator Reverend Warnock, lawmakers to Postmaster General DeJoy: “Americans rely on USPS to connect our communities and deliver everything from essential medication to important tax documents and ballots. Without access to secure, accessible, and efficient postal services, Americans will struggle to meet their everyday needs” 

Senator Reverend Warnock, lawmakers to USPS OIG: “We respectfully request that the USPS OIG Final Report on the Atlanta RPDC in Palmetto, GA, include an analysis of whether these operational changes will disproportionately affect or further disadvantage Georgia’s rural, minority, low-income, and underserved communities, including members of the USPS’s own workforce”

ICYMI from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Warnock-led group demands answers about mail delays, sets May 10 deadline

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), joined by a group of Georgia lawmakers, pressed top leaders at the United States Postal Service (USPS) about the implementation of the agency’s “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan following recent reporting from local news outlets detailing ongoing delays and disruptions in mail processing and delivery in communities across Georgia. Introduced by USPS Postmaster General Louis Dejoy in 2021, DFA is a 10-year plan designed to make the postal service profitable that includes consolidating key operations into a smaller number of large facilities.

In a letter to the Postmaster General, joined by U.S. Georgia Representatives Lucy McBath (D-GA-07), David Scott (D-GA-13), Henry C. ‘Hank’ Johnson Jr. (D-GA-04), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA-02) and Rich McCormick, MD, MBA (R-GA-06), Senator Warnock lifted up Georgians’ frustrations with the new Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) in Palmetto, GA, and posed a series of questions pressing for specific, transparent details about USPS’ implementation of its “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan:

“So far, USPS has failed to live up to this standard in Georgia. Since the opening of the new Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) on February 24, 2024, we have increasingly heard from Georgians about disruptions and delays in their essential postal services. As USPS implements changes to its network, USPS must ensure no Georgians, especially those with limited mobility options and urgent needs, are left behind for the sake of modernization,” said Senator Reverend Warnock and his colleagues in the letter to DeJoy.

The lawmakers also posed questions demanding details about how USPS is working to improve mail efficiencies and delivery times, and how USPS is working to ensure that communities and individuals with limited mobility or access to transportation services will not be adversely impacted by ongoing operational changes:

“Consolidating and centralizing USPS’s service network may be particularly burdensome for communities that cannot reliably travel to access essential postal services, including the 45 percent of Americans who have no access to public transportation and the one million rural households that do not have access to a car.  As a public service responsible for delivering to every community in America, USPS must ensure that changes to its processing and delivery network do not create a barrier of distance and lead to a decrease in the accessibility or timeliness of essential postal services for any community in America,” the Senator and his colleagues continued.

Additionally, in a separate letter to the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) joined by Representatives McBath, Scott, Johnson, Williams, and Bishop, Senator Warnock and his colleagues urged the watchdog office to expand its audit of the Atlanta RPDC, requesting a report investigating whether operational changes will disproportionately affect Georgia’s rural, minority, low-income, and underserved communities. The lawmakers reminded USPS of its fundamental responsibility to provide secure, accessible, and efficient services to all USPS customers, a standard that USPS is failing to meet in the state. Read the full letter to Inspector General Hull HERE.

This is the latest effort from Senator Warnock to hold USPS accountable for its service to Georgians. In addition to supporting passage of the Postal Service Reform Act, signed into law in 2022, Senator Warnock recently joined Senator Ossoff and U.S. Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) to launch a bipartisan, bicameral inquiry with USPS asking DeJoy to provide a detailed explanation for alleged fraud at the Marietta Post Office last year. Senators Warnock and Ossoff have also worked together to conduct oversight of the Green County Post Office and investigate check-washing facilitated through the postal service in Dunwoody.

The letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy can be found HERE and text of the letter is below:

Dear Postmaster General DeJoy,

We write regarding the implementation of the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) “Delivering for America” plan and my concerns regarding its effect on Georgians. On March 23, 2021, USPS issued its 10-year plan entitled “Delivering for America,” which outlines the Postal Service’s plan to change its processing and delivery network. Although USPS intended for these changes to streamline the Postal Service’s operation, we are concerned these actions will negatively affect USPS’s service performance and restrict access to essential postal services. Unfortunately, as evidenced by recent reporting from 11 Alive, WSBTV, Fox 5 Atlanta, Georgians throughout my state have already begun to feel the disruptive effects of these network changes. We request that USPS detail how USPS plans to address these concerns. 

Americans rely on USPS to connect our communities and deliver everything from essential medication to important tax documents and ballots. Without access to secure, accessible, and efficient postal services, Americans will struggle to meet their everyday needs. While we broadly support the efficiency and reliability goals of USPS “Delivering for America” plan, we are concerned that changes in USPS’s processing and delivery network will negatively and disproportionately affect vulnerable communities in Georgia and across the nation. 

Consolidating and centralizing USPS’s service network may be particularly burdensome for communities that cannot reliably travel to access essential postal services, including the 45 percent of Americans who have no access to public transportation and the one million rural households that do not have access to a car. As a public service responsible for delivering to every community in America, USPS must ensure that changes to its processing and delivery network do not create a barrier of distance and lead to a decrease in the accessibility or timeliness of essential postal services for any community in America.

So far, USPS has failed to live up to this standard in Georgia. Since the opening of the new Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) on February 24, 2024, we have increasingly heard from Georgians about disruptions and delays in their essential postal services. As USPS implements changes to its network, USPS must ensure no Georgians, especially those with limited mobility options and urgent needs, are left behind for the sake of modernization.

This is especially true given USPS’s role in supporting our democracy and election administration. The efficient operation of USPS helps ensure that the votes of all eligible Americans are counted in our democracy. Any modifications to its processing and delivery network must maintain USPS’s ability to reliably provide secure, accessible, and efficient voting and delivery services to all USPS customers.

With these concerns in mind, I request that USPS respond to the following questions May 10, 2024, to provide additional transparency on USPS’s implementation of the “Delivering for America” plan: 

1. USPS has said that its implementation of the “Delivering for America” plan has begun working to reverse years of declining reliability and meet its 95% on-time performance goal. However, according to USPS Office of Inspector General, the Postal Service is not meeting its Fiscal Year 2024 performance targets for certain types of mail in 44 of the 50 states with Georgia experiencing the third lowest service performance for First Class Single Piece mail. This overall performance failure has been compounded by the significant delays experienced in Georgia since the opening of the Atlanta RPDC.

1. How are you working to improve efficiencies and delivery times out of the Atlanta RPDC following the early disruptions?
2. As USPS plans to move more processing operations from Augusta and Macon to the Atlanta RPDC, what steps will USPS take to ensure minimal disruptions to these networks?
3. How will USPS apply the lessons learned from disruptions associated with the Atlanta RPDC to ensure that future operational changes are as seamless and unnoticeable to USPS customers as possible?
4. USPS has said that the “Delivering for America” plan will not result in post office closures. However, USPS also estimates that new Sorting & Delivery Centers (S&DCs) will replace and consolidate many of the 19,000 Delivery Units (DUs) that service customers throughout the United States. In many cases, new S&DCs are geographically further from USPS customers than local DUs, creating a barrier of distance that is particularly concerning for urgent mail deliveries, rural Georgians, and those who lack access to reliable transportation.
5. Please describe in detail how USPS accounted for increases in the length of delivery route, travel distances between processing facilities, and potential opportunities for unexpected transportation delays when evaluating how network changes under the “Delivering for America” plan may affect USPS’s ability to meet its 95 percent on-time performance goal for all mail types.
6. The “Delivering for America” plan outlines reforms that will substantially change the way the USPS operates across the country. However, we must always ensure burdens of progress are not disproportionately felt by economically disadvantaged and underserved communities in America, including those serving the country as employees of the USPS.
7. Please explain in detail how USPS plans to ensure that communities and individuals with limited mobility or access to transportation services, including America’s disabled, rural, economically disadvantaged, and underserved populations, will not be adversely or disproportionately affected by USPS’s implementation of the “Delivering for America” plan. In your response, please reference where the Delivering for America plan explicitly accounts for the needs of these communities.
8. USPS plays a critical role in ensuring eligible Americans can make their voices heard in our democracy.
9. Please explain in detail what actions USPS is taking to ensure that its implementation of the “Delivering for America” plan will not negatively affect or hinder USPS’s ability to deliver mail-in ballots securely, efficiently, and correctly by election day.

We look forward to your timely response on this issue of critical importance.

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