One Moment, Please… USPS (lack of) Communication and Transparency

By Jason Sethre

Publisher

Fillmore County Journal 

jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com

One of the stories in this week’s newspaper relates to a USPS semi-trailer that burst into flames along Highway 52 north of Rochester.  The Oronoco Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire within a short window of time, so traffic could resume on Highway 52.

At the time this story broke, we learned that the driver escaped the incident unharmed.  So, that was good news.

After that, we heard nothing more from the United States Postal Service.

Where was this mail heading?  Which post offices were not going to receive the mail that was on that truck?  

I sought answers from the USPS media contact for Minnesota, USPS Strategic Communications Specialist Desai Abdul-Razzaaq.  He told me to contact the Postal Inspection Service, providing me with a hotline number and general e-mail address.  I left multiple voicemails and sent multiple e-mails to the Postal Inspection Service contact information provided by Abdul-Razzaaq.  No response.

Finally, I referred back to Desai Abdul-Razzaaq and said I was getting no response.

He sent me a generic response with no specific information.  Again, I asked him what zip codes were impacted.  No response.

So, I started calling all of our local postal locations.  After multiple calls, I started to find some answers.

The post offices impacted were all along Highway 14, including Eyota, Dover, St. Charles, Lewiston, Utica and multiple routes in Winona.

This shouldn’t have been that difficult.  When a situation happens that impacts people in this manner, the USPS should be transparent.  Release this information to the public so they can determine whether they should be concerned.

It was the beginning of the month.  Businesses mail out bills at the beginning of each month.  There are people paying bills – mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, utilities, etc..  There are people expecting money in the mail.  Checks, birthday cards and others.  All gone.  This negatively impacts people’s lives.  It’s kind of a big deal.

And yet no communication from the USPS to the public, which diminishes trust in the system.

I think the USPS can do better.

Improve Your USPS Experience

Throughout the process of trying to get answers from USPS media relations for Minnesota, I made a lot of phone calls.

I spoke with a local mail carrier who said there is an application offered by the USPS that allows individuals and businesses to monitor their mail on a daily basis.

The USPS captures exterior images of every piece of mail for sorting and tracking purposes.  The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) system was introduced after the 2001 anthrax attacks.  The use of the system was not confirmed to the public until 2013, and was first launched as a pilot program in certain U.S. markets between 2014 and 2017.  As of 2017, it became available to the public as part of what has been referred to as Informed Delivery.

I would highly recommend signing up for this program so you can see what mail you are supposed to be receiving each day.  If something is missing, you’ll be in the know.  To sign up, visit www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htm.