1. United States
2. Maine
3. Letter

As your constituent, I urge Congress to address years of unreliable U.S. Postal Service delivery. For several years, mail has sometimes arrived only every second or third day. Americans should not have to guess whether their mail carrier will come. THE POSTAL SERVICE MUST SHOW UP – EVERY DELIVERY DAY. Missed delivery can delay medications, checks, payments, legal notices, and government correspondence. These failures burden residents and small businesses. Staffing shortages and financial pressures deserve solutions, not excuses. Lowering performance targets is no substitute for delivering the mail. DECLINING PERFORMANCE HAS BECOME A NATIONAL PROBLEM. Federal law generally requires six-day mail delivery. Yet nationwide performance has deteriorated. The Government Accountability Office reported that on-time First-Class Mail performance fell from about 91% in fiscal 2022 to 86% in fiscal 2025. The Postal Regulatory Commission found that USPS missed targets in 20 of 27 regulated mail categories. These figures do not measure skipped routes directly. Congress needs data that do. Congress must ensure that every household receives reliable service on every scheduled delivery day and that USPS accounts publicly for routes it does not complete. CONGRESS MUST ACT – AND DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY. (1) ENFORCE SIX-DAY DELIVERY. Require USPS to complete scheduled routes except for lawful exceptions, and identify recurring violations. (2) AUDIT MISSED ROUTES. Direct GAO and the USPS Inspector General to investigate chronic delivery gaps and independently verify the causes. (3) PUBLISH LOCAL SERVICE DATA. Require monthly ZIP-code-level reporting of uncompleted routes, consecutive missed delivery days, accumulated mail, and corrective action. (4) PROVIDE BACKUP STAFFING. Require coverage plans for vacancies, absences, and workload surges so mail does not routinely sit undelivered. (5) STRENGTHEN ENFORCEMENT. Expand the Postal Regulatory Commission’s ability to compel corrective action and impose meaningful consequences for persistent failures. (6) REVIEW SERVICE CUTS. Independently assess network and transportation changes; reverse changes shown to cause chronic missed deliveries. (7) IMPOSE RECOVERY DEADLINES. Require route-specific improvement plans, deadlines, independent audits, and quarterly congressional reports. (8) FIX THE COMPLAINT PROCESS. Require written findings and timely remedies for residents reporting repeated missed delivery. (9) FUND THE LEGAL OBLIGATION. Assess the actual cost of nationwide six-day delivery and enact a sustainable plan without weakening service. (10) HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS. Require postal leaders to explain chronic gaps and present verifiable evidence of improvement. Thank you.