Rep. Dusty Johnson backs Senator Rounds push for investigation into mail service in South Dakota

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) -Congressman Dusty Johnson is backing Senator Mike Round’s push for an investigation in postal service delays in South Dakota.

Johnson took to social media saying Senator Mike Rounds was right to ask for an investigation into postal service delays in South Dakota. Rounds had previously sent a letter to the postal service’s inspector general asking for her to find the cause of mail delays in South Dakota. Rounds said in his letter he has heard from hundreds of constituents across South Dakota. Johnson opened up with KOTA Territory News about his support for the investigation.

“I think the postal service is a terrible disaster,” said Johnson.

Johnson noted that in the past the service did what he said was a pretty good job. Johnson says despite sending letters and making phone calls with the postal service, he has not gotten any answers.

“I have asked if I can come down to one of their facilities, get a tour so I can better understand what’s going on behind the walls. They have refused to even let me, a member of congress, come learn about how they conduct their business. And so, this appears to be an enterprise that A, is not improving, B, isn’t communicating why there, why there failing and C doesn’t even appear to be particularly interested in getting better,” explained Johnson.

Rounds has pointed to the problem as being that mail traveling across or into South Dakota taking indirect routes. Rounds previously took a meeting with the postmaster general however the senator appears not satisfied with the outcome.

Rounds wrote in part in his letter, “I expressed my concerns about this to the Postmaster General (PMG) Steiner who downplayed such issue existed in South Dakota.”

In a letter sent to Rounds in October, Postmaster General David Steiner said that fixing issues at central region plants in Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City will likely improve outcomes and that at the time it was something the USPS was actively working on. The postmaster general acknowledged poor performance for first class mail at the beginning of the year and mid-summer but noted that it has since improved. During the week ending September 19th for South Dakota’s postal district, about %93 percent of first-class mail was delivered on time and roughly %97 percent was delivered within one day of its expected arrival. The postmaster general said he wanted to focus on the %3 percent that’s not getting to its destination on time.

“It may be only a small percentage of the mail, but because we deliver hundreds of millions of pieces each day nationally, the raw number is large,” wrote Steiner.

Steiner emphasized that some mail in South Dakota has always left the state for processing before going to another part of the state. The postmaster general explained that some mail requires certain sorting equipment and therefor some mail travels to plants with the right equipment.

The postmaster general also maintained in his letter that mail going to and from the same area in South Dakota is not leaving the state.

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