A new report released on Thursday revealed flaws inside the post office. The USPS Inspector General’s report highlights the four worst performing Chicago locations:
The delayed mail, including letters and packages from those places, amounted to more than 62,000 from last September to February.
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Congressman Bobby Rush, who joined local mayors and mayors of Alsip and Evergreen Park during a morning press conference, called it unacceptable.
“People who depend on the postal service, the elderly, families and other people depending on the postal service day-in and day-out – this is an absolute, epic, total, unmistakable failure,” Rush said.
He appeals to the postmaster to resign and to review the management. The report he highlighted also revealed inaccurate reporting on the delayed post. Some of them included ‘voter information’ from the foreign minister.
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“We do not deserve the kind of treatment we get in Chicago,” said Pat Dowell, 3rd Ward Alderman. “It’s not just a matter of the South Side; it’s happening in the North Side and suburban areas. It’s time for change.”
The report also focused on the incorrect scanning and handling of hundreds of packages and absenteeism rates for letters, which in some cases was up to 50%.
ABC 7 spoke to those whose health is now affected by this postal delay.
“Why? That’s all I can say. Why? Why? Why?” says Classie Hardney, who has been waiting for her new prescription and insurance cards to arrive in her post since the end of January.
“The post office is not working. It just is not working,” she said.
She said she could not pick up her medicine without the card, and she only had a week left before she ran out.
“I need my asthma pump, I need the blood pressure medication and I need the cholesterol medication. If I run out then I do not know what I can do,” she said.
Lorraine Sardin finally got mail after three weeks, but is still waiting for her second stimulus test.
“How often do I have to come here to check on my mail?” shouted one man outside the 83rd and Ashland locations before police were called.
The USPS Inspector General recommends that postal managers follow up on the absence of service providers – in some cases up to 50 percent – as well as other problems with reporting mail.
USPS said in a statement: The Chicago USPS management team is working on implementing the OIG recommendations as set forth on pages 14-17 in the recently released OIG report.
Read the full report here.
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