Infuriating
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I got a text message from my Aunt Marie a few days back. She lives just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Aunt Marie sent me a picture of a copy of one of our newspapers and she highlighted the date of the newspaper. She had written the date she received the newspaper, took a picture of the front of the newspaper and sent me a copy. The newspaper was from April 23, 2025. She received that newspaper on May 14, 2025. That’s 21 days. Is this acceptable?
I have been in and around this industry for a long time. I’ve witnessed many changes within the United States Postal Service (USPS). It seems like none of these changes (probably recommended by some dimwit that has never worked or can even tell you what a rural carrier route is) have ever made the service better.
An example of these terrible changes, in my opinion, was the closing of regional distribution points. All of the zip 315 area use to go to Waycross and was then sorted and sent to each community. Most places like Odum, Bristol, Baxley, Alma, Waycross, Folkston (our entire 315 area) got mail in a timely fashion. That mail is now sent to Regional Distribution Center in Jacksonville, Florida to be sorted along with zip code areas 006-009, 313-317, 320-342, 344, 346-347, 349, and 398. I bet you money the majority of workers in Jacksonville couldn’t tell you where Denton, Georgia is located. The people that sorted our mail in Waycross knew exactly where Denton is located.
With each change came another promise and/or assurance. “If you make this change, you will get a better rate and service will improve.” I am done drinking that Kool-Aid. Rates have continued to climb and service gets shoddier, not better.
I have said over and over that our local postal carriers are great. By and large, they do a wonderful job delivering our newspapers. But anything outside of the local delivery area is sketchy at best.
Each week we get calls from subscribers complaining about not getting their newspapers. Last week I got a tongue lashing from a customer from another community who had not received her newspaper in two weeks. I explained to her that we mailed the newspaper on Tuesday afternoon, like we do every week.
What is even more infuriating is that in addition to the postage we pay to the USPS, we also have to pay companies such as Interlink Circulation and Lorton Data to keep us in compliance with the ever-changing and increasing postal requirements. It is simply more than a small business like ours can keep up with.
It is past time for the USPS to be overhauled. Maybe some of the upper brass in the USPS should spend some time on the front lines delivering the mail in our local areas. Maybe then they would understand why people are growing more and more frustrated with the service.
By the way, in case you did not know, you can subscribe to the newspaper online. Visit our websites. I have noticed more and more people choosing this option due to the lack of dependability of USPS.
