The saga of slow mail delivery in Arlington continues.
Now, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D) is bringing the county’s issues to the federal government.
There have been grumblings for years of spotty mail delivery service in parts of Arlington. Locals frequently post stories of their problems getting or sending mail on the social media platform Nextdoor.
Now, Kaine is asking the United States Postal Service to review these frustrating experiences and provide explanations and a list of steps USPS will take to fix them.
“I am concerned that Virginia communities as far-flung as Smyth County in Southwest Virginia, the Richmond area (nearly 300 miles away from Chilhowie by highway), and Arlington, across the river from Washington, D.C., are all experiencing missing bills, medications, tax documents, and days/weeks without mail,” Kaine wrote in a letter — which he sent electronically.
“My constituents are understandably frustrated and eager to know if help is on the way. I appreciate any information you can share,” he continued.
Kaine referenced one specific story he heard from an Arlingtonian who “repeatedly went several days without mail over the period of several months and did not receive specific items, including a Virginia Auto Registration from the DMV and a Virginia Driver’s license.”
In the letter, he included the response from USPS:
After investigation and consultation with local management, it has been found that the office may experience delivery delays due to employee availability issues. However, they are taking the steps necessary to ensure every effort has been made to deliver the mail daily. The route in which your constituent resides is current however delivery on this route maybe later in the day. Once again, please allow us to apologize for the unfortunate customer experience.
His letter also detailed issues from other parts of the state, including missed mail or infrequent or late-at-night delivery as well as never-returned phone calls requesting assistance.
“I request that you review these concerns, provide information on how these are being addressed, and share what factors are causing what appear to be systemic challenges with processing mail promptly and getting it successfully to the right place,” he said.
Within the last week, one Colonial Village resident took to Nextdoor to say it took two weeks for a check to go no more than four miles as the crow flies.
“I can top that,” a neighbor replied. “My mother in law showed us two pieces of mail that she just got returned to her. The postmark was from 2021.”
“A few months ago I mailed a letter 2-day Priority, Signature Required at the 22204 Post Office,” a third user said. “It took 8 days to get to a 22201 address!”
Some users were more optimistic, calling on neighbors to increase their use of USPS.
“We should keep using the Postal system because the more we use it, the more funding there is, the better the service will get,” wrote one woman.
Another issued a recruiting call to arms.
“Let’s spread the word to older teens and twenty-somethings looking for work that not just the Post Office, but the Federal Gov’t itself needs sufficient numbers of good public servants in order to run well,” she said.
