(NewsNation) — Rural Americans are facing delays in mail service, even when it comes to important letters and packages. One rural area is suing to fix it.
People in rural Colorado said they aren’t getting their letters, prescriptions and packages. But the problem goes beyond Colorado, affecting rural areas across the country.
Seven small towns in rural Colorado, including Steamboat Springs and Crested Butte, have banded together and lawyered up, arguing the U.S. Postal Service is in violation of a 2006 law that guarantees everyone “regular access” to their mail.
Dara MacDonald is the town manager in Crested Butte.
“It’s hard to describe the months that people wait for mail, not just Christmas cards, anything. I had a call last week, a birthday present that was due in early January had just arrived six weeks too late,” she told NewsNation.
When it comes to things like prescriptions or Social Security checks, regular access is extremely important. For some towns, the problem has been going on for quite some time. People said there’s spotty delivery and long lines at the post office for those who have PO boxes.
“A lot of our communities don’t have regular home delivery in our rural communities. Quite often, the post office does not deliver to the home. Rather, we pay for post office boxes. And that’s our only option to receive mail,” MacDonald explained.
The system worked for many years, but she said the rise of online shopping and the influx of packages began causing delays. That has meant rural customers have to wait hours in line to get packages at their local post office.
The seven towns are hoping that the lawsuit, or even just the threat of it, will spur the USPS into action.
“The post office needs to step up and pay more, provide housing, do all the things that our rural communities do to ensure that we have employees to meet the services that are expected of us,” MacDonald said.
NewsNation reached out to the law firm representing the towns, but has not received a response.
But the reality is, this is a problem facing rural communities all over the country, from Minot, North Dakota to Billings, Montana.
The postal service wouldn’t respond for comment on the pending lawsuit, but in the past it has cited reasons for difficulties with delivery, mainly a lack of new hires. That’s especially true after the pandemic.
The agency has been holding job fairs like one in Austin, Texas, where the job vacancies are vast.
“City carrier assistant, rural carrier associate, mail handler assistant and assistant rural carriers. Right now we have as many as we can get on. We are looking for probably anywhere from 10-20 per posting,” said Ivonna Molina, USPS workforce planning specialist.
The struggle to hire postal workers goes beyond Austin. That’s why Congress is getting involved. In January, four Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding answers, and several members on the hill have spoken out about problems at USPS.
They’re asking the agency to be more transparent about the difficulties it’s facing, what steps it’s taking to hire more people to deliver the mail and how it plans to improve communication with rural towns across America.