HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Alabama Congressman Dale Strong, whose constituency includes much of North Alabama, wrote a letter this week to United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, requesting the postal service to "invest in a Processing & Distribution Facility" in his district. The letter comes as Strong attempts to offer solutions to what he and others have called an "inefficient" system that has led to service disruptions and delays, such as the case of an Owens Cross Roads resident who chronicled masses of packages that a small number of staff were trying to handle this past February.
At a town hall meeting later that month, a spokesperson for Rep. Strong's office heard from a group of concerned citizens, as did a Huntsville council member and a Madison County commissioner about the conditions of the small facility.
Strong's letter, dated May 23, the Congressman writes that "for the entirety of the 118th Congress, USPS casework has been the most demanding of my constituent services department due to the substantial volume of residence voicing their experiences with shortcomings of the once-reliable USPS system."
Strong says the most complaints he received surround the timeliness of Priority Mail and package processing. He then explains how he believes one major problem locally is the current structure of mail processing - which involves all Huntsville-area mail being processed through a central facility in Birmingham.
"In recent years this has proven to be incredibly inefficient," Strong writes, "with issues intensifying year after year as North Alabama continues to see an unprecedented population boom."
Post office clerks have told customers that the delays are "solely due to mail being lost or stalled in Birmingham," Strong says. "The Birmingham [facility] does not have the capacity to efficiently process and deliver mail within the state of Alabama."
Strong notes that Huntsville had its own processing facility until it was closed in a 2011 consolidation process. Strong suggests it is time for a "change of course with the investment of a new P&DF in Huntsville." He says he has requested a written reply from the Postmaster regarding the issue.
Postmaster DeJoy has experienced similar complaints in other states, recently announcing plans to improve a facility in Georgia after a "significant drop in performance" caused delivery issues and delays in that region.