Time for USPS to Pony Up

Straight Talk with Sam

Winter weather hit North Missouri with a vengeance in the last few weeks. As a result, the Postal Service had a real struggle getting the mail delivered. In fact, I'm still getting calls today from folks who haven't gotten their mail.

USPS says they couldn't get their trucks out of the Kansas City and St. Louis processing centers for a few days. I get it. There were some definite delays in clearing some roads. No one should put their life in jeopardy if it's not necessary. However, we're at least 10 days out now. The roads have improved. It's time to get the mail delivered. It's up to management to make sure the mail gets out of the processing center and to the post offices.

That seems to be the issue: management. We all know that weather delays are just the latest issue with the Postal Service. It just adds insult to injury. Bills aren't showing up on time, prescriptions are getting lost, and packages take a meandering route around the country before showing up somewhere down the line. It's infuriating.

Add the boneheaded idea to further reduce rural service, and you have a recipe for disaster.

That's why it's time for USPS to pony up. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, Representative Mark Alford and I just reintroduced the Pony Up Act this week. If your bills don't show up on time, the Postal Service should foot the bill if you get a late fee. Why should you pay twice for their terrible service?

On top of that, local entities depend on getting bills paid on time to survive. If the bill doesn't show up, it's real hard to pay it. Terrible mail service affects everybody, and it costs real money.

Again, I'm looking at management and the processing centers in Kansas City and St. Louis. They need a dramatic overhaul, and certainly not the one currently being talked about, which would get mail to the cities faster at the expense of delivery times in rural America.

This bill is plain common sense. We're tired of the late mail and the runaround from USPS. What they're doing isn't working, and it needs to change. In the meantime, they need some skin in the game when their poor service costs folks money, and that's what we aim to get.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves