ATLANTA — Someone with more Postal Service experience and deeper insights into the system than just about anyone else you might find spoke to 11Alive about what he's seeing with ongoing delivery delays in Atlanta and elsewhere -- and he was unsparing.
"They've lost control of the process," Thomas Day, the vice chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, told 11Alive's Liza Lucas in an interview.
Day is a third generation postal professional, with a 35-year career at USPS during which he held top positions such as vice president of engineering and chief sustainability officer.
And he called the current level of breakdowns he's seen and heard about "unprecedented."
"I've never, ever seen service this poor in my entire career," he said. "Never."
The delays in Atlanta trace to the new Atlanta Regional Processing & Distribution Center in Palmetto. It opened on Feb. 24, consolidating Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Duluth area processing and distribution centers, which are each being repurposed as local processing centers.
Similar consolidations are happening elsewhere around the country -- the larger, centralized facilities are the on-the-ground centerpiece of a system-wide modernization drive within USPS known as "Delivering for America."
Day said he agreed a redesign of the network was necessary, but criticized "Delivering for America" for being implemented with what he called a "lack of transparency." The Postal Regulatory Commission, he noted, has only limited authority over USPS and is largely advisory -- and said their own inquiries have not always gotten answers.
The same has been true in cases for members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. In Georgia, lawmakers from Republican Reps. Mike Collins and Andrew Clyde to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff have pressed for explanations about the system delays as well as solutions.
It's also been true for news organizations -- 11Alive has contacted USPS on multiple occasions for answers to questions that would paint a fuller picture of what's going on at the Palmetto facility. Since an updated statement in early March that said in part "operations are improving," USPS has continued to say it has no additional information to provide. You can find the full statement at the bottom of this story.
More may be revealed at a Tuesday congressional hearing. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as well as the chair of the Board of Governors, USPS Inspector General and Chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission are all expected to testify.
Day said he had examined data in Atlanta that showed service reliability scores had gone from the high 80s to 90 range down to as low as 10%. A particular metric he felt was telling was the time it takes for good old-fashioned letters and postcards to get from one destination to another just within the same service district.
It can often be as easy as an overnight delivery with that type of mail, and it's supposed to be no later than two days.
In Atlanta, the average was roughly six days. Day called it "shocking."
"When you make moves -- and there's certainly a level of disruption when you open a new facility -- but there's a very defined process of how that's done... in that process there are checkpoints. What I'm seeing -- I'm looking very specifically at Atlanta, the results are just horrendous," he said. "I've never seen anything done like that."
He added that what makes it more jarring is the Palmetto facility is brand new.
"It was built from the ground up, with the specific layout, equipment, operations, procedures, transportation -- this is everything that Delivering for America is supposed to do. And yet we opened a new facility, it has none of the leftover problems from the past, this is unique to what's being done now and the result is just terrible," Day said.
The commissioner described some of the operational issues.
"The problem you have when you get this backlogged, when you have an average time to deliver a letter just within the Atlanta area of six days -- totally ridiculous -- what that tells me is they're backing up mail all over the place," he said. "And as hard as you try to keep it in order it just overwhelms you."
"Next thing you know, oh we've got time to run some mail now -- well you go grab the next container, well the problem is the next container isn't the oldest container. It's likely the newest container. And you start managing this stuff - in fact you don't manage it, it's a mess, and that becomes the danger," he said "As much as possible the Postal Service... must be as close to continuous flow. It comes in, you process it, you sort it, you move it to the next step. As soon as you start pushing it to the side and staging it, you are losing control."
He added that he had been to the Palmetto facility prior to the launch and that it was impressive in many respects -- it's modern, has good layout and new equipment. But "when you get this backed up, now you gotta add a whole new series of controls to keep it done in order, and unfortunately again... the data says they're not doing that."
"They've lost control of the process," Day said.
He left off with a simple message.
"I care about the Postal Service, I care about the people that work for it, and I care about the American public that we serve," he said. "I just wanna see the Postal Service succeed... I just wanna see the damn thing fixed."
Full USPS statement on metro Atlanta delays
The Postal Service plays an important role in the community, and we are committed to providing the best service possible. While a significant portion of mail and packages in the Atlanta area is being delivered in a timely manner, management is aware of the concerns of some local customers regarding their mail and package delivery and are working quickly to resolve any issues. Operations are improving as we continue to make significant investments in the Atlanta area, including new sorting machines, upgraded facilities and more efficient transportation, that will help ensure our organization can provide reliable delivery services for years to come. We sincerely express our apologies to our customers who may have experienced a deviation from our normal dependable service and appreciate their patience. Customers are reminded that, if they need assistance with mailing or shipping concerns, they have a variety of options for reaching us, including contacting a manager or supervisor at their local Post Office, calling 1-800-ASK-USPS(1-800-275-8777), or visiting our website at www.usps.com.
11Alive News is hearing from customers who are experiencing issues submitting a ‘missing mail search request.’ We’re aware of these problems and requested more information from USPS on next steps.
Those experiencing delays or who have not received mail can contact the newsroom with your concerns as we continue to cover this story. Fill out our online form below, and someone from our news team will follow up with you.