Dec. 14—GRAND FORKS — Despite assurances that the problems would be resolved, Cecile Wehrman, president of the North Dakota Newspaper Association, says the United States Postal Service is still having delivery problems.
“Once again it affected ballots and the information people needed right before the election,” Wehrman said. “In this case, it affected seven newspapers in the southwest corner of North Dakota. As far as the post office is concerned, those newspapers were not late if they fell within the two to nine day window.”
Wehrman wrote about the situation in a November column in the NDNA Bulletin and even said as much
although the association was given lines of communication with the Postal Service for when problems arose
it didn’t solve much: no one seemed to have answers about where missing editions of newspapers went. The papers were eventually delivered, but a few days after the intended date.
The lack of consistency is the biggest problem for newspapers in North Dakota, Wehrman said.
“Our business model depends on their consistency. Otherwise, we will deliver old newspapers instead of newspapers,” she said. “(Moving deadlines) only moves the issue to another day; it does not solve the problem of lack of consistency in putting papers in the mail and trying to deliver them on the actual publication date.”
Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, said the problems are concerning and he has heard of similar problems affecting national newspapers across the country.
“We have a system where the newspapers can call and talk to someone at the USPS and get help. … We need to get a better response,” he said. “We’re just going to have to continue to put pressure on USPS to try to avoid these mistakes and be better able to respond when there is a problem.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Minnesota-North Dakota and Wisconsin postal districts said mail service is on time.
“The performance of our mail delivery service in North Dakota remains consistent and on time, with an average delivery time of 2.76 days for a piece of mail. This reflects our commitment to providing reliable and efficient service to communities locally and across the country.”
Hoeven has previously worked on planning a meeting between newspapers,
regional stakeholders and state leaders over concerns about mail in Grand Forks in August.
Wehrman and local stakeholders also raised concerns with the postal administration at the time, and Postmaster Louis DeJoy testified on December 10 at a U.S. House of Representatives Over and Accountability Committee hearing about representatives’ concerns about postal management.
Wehrman is working to get a resolution passed by the Legislature
to raise awareness of the issues and flag concerns about mail delivery across the state.
“We depend on them. In many cases, there is nothing that can replace their service,” she said. “Whether it’s people receiving medications in the mail or glasses, even our local governments depend on the Postal Service to send people notices and timely information about their businesses and deadlines for property owners.”
