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by Cassandra Hemenway, republished with permission from The Montpelier Bridge
Montpelier’s post office has been unreliable, and the problem isn’t going away. Postal employees aren’t talking, but frustrated residents missing their mail certainly are.
Attempts to reach Postmaster Douglas Powell have gone unanswered. The Bridge has called him nearly a dozen times at two different numbers, with no response. Efforts to contact a regional manager have also hit a dead end.
And about those postmasters — Powell is the fifteenth since 2010 and the eleventh since 2020, according to the USPS website. That year alone saw four.
No official explanation has been given for why mail is running one to two weeks late, but residents have taken to social media and Front Porch Forum to speculate and to share their frustrations. Off-the-record sources say the Montpelier post office is operating with about half the letter carriers it needs to keep up.
The post office is attempting to add personnel in central Vermont. A Feb. 18 search for jobs at the USPS website found that the organization is seeking to hire carriers in Montpelier, East Montpelier, Barre, and South Barre, among other locations.
For now, packages, at least, seem to be arriving more reliably, thanks to help from carriers from other towns. But letter mail? That’s coming whenever the remaining Montpelier carriers can manage.
Residents Speak Out
Some residents are suffering, having long counted on regular postal service.
“I depend on mail,” said Kjiirt (pronounced “Kurt”) Jenson of Jay Street. “I still mail cards and letters. I get checks and tax info in the mail. And there’s no delivery.”
Jenson said he waited so long for an important piece of mail that his housemate eventually went to the Berlin sorting center and picked it up in person.
Lydia Lowery Busler of Pleasantview Street had the opposite problem: her outgoing mail sat in her mailbox for nearly a week with the flag up.
“It needed to get there by Feb. 1,” she said. “It sat there since Friday.”
She posted about it in the Montpelier Area Friends Facebook group and later said, “If the post office is this unsupported, something is going on.”
Busler said she filed a complaint on the USPS website at 8 p.m. one evening and, 12 hours later, got a call from a USPS representative in Portland, Maine.
“He was friendly,” Busler said. “He said they’ve had a lot of complaints about this post office. He also said there’s one person working inside the post office and that a carrier was injured.”
Businesses and Organizations Feel the Impact
Tim Beavin, owner of B-Hive Industries on River Street, has relied on the Montpelier post office for 26 years for his internet sales. Over the past month, he’s made about $40,000 in eBay sales, requiring 600 shipments, he said.
“But a small business like mine with outgoing shipments is not as important (as) making sure the Amazon orders get delivered,” Beavin said. When he spoke to The Bridge, he was expecting to deliver over 100 parcels on Feb. 18. It will be a tricky endeavor, he pointed out, because despite the number of his packages, “I usually have to bring (them) to the sad temporary retail counter with bad parking and no loading docks” on East State Street.
Beavin also noted that his letter mail, like many others in town, is severely delayed. “I just got two letters from the city of Montpelier that took 13 days to reach River Street,” he said.
The issue isn’t just affecting residents and businesses, it’s also disrupting essential services. Amanda Hannigan, who works at the Vermont State Housing Authority, says mail delays are impacting the Section 8 rental-assistance program.
“My work has definitely experienced some recent challenges regarding mail delivery for our Section 8 participants,” she said. “Since I began working with this program about a year ago, we have depended on reliable mail delivery to adhere to our paperwork processing deadlines.”
That reliability, she said, has declined noticeably in recent months.
“What used to be a steady daily receipt of mail has now become quite erratic. For example, last Friday, we received a small delivery, but we were informed that we should not expect any mail next week due to our carrier’s upcoming vacation, with no coverage to fill in during that time.”
She added, “This situation is starting to affect our ability to process applications efficiently and communicate effectively with participants. I don’t know what the larger issue at play is, but it is certainly becoming disruptive to our community.”
What You Can Do
If your mail is delayed, here are a few workarounds:
Sending? Use blue postal mailboxes — These are handled separately from local carriers and may be more reliable in Montpelier right now.
Expecting mail? Visit the Berlin sorting center — If you’re waiting for important mail, you can visit the USPS sorting center at the Central Vermont Marketplace (formerly the Berlin Mall). It’s next to Five Below, with a small sign on the door. The best time to go is between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
File a complaint at usa.gov/postal-service-complaints.
Busler, for one, is adjusting her expectations.
“I’m going to be on top of it and not expect anything,” she said. “It’s better to send things by email or messages.”
For now, Montpelierites are left hoping for long-term improvements — and checking and rechecking their mailboxes.
The author of this article is the editor of the Montpelier Bridge, the twice-monthly community newspaper for Montpelier and surrounding communities. Original article found here: Montpelier’s Post Office Is Struggling — And Residents Are Feeling It – The Montpelier Bridge
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Categories: Infrastructure and Public Works
Securing a USPS job 40 years (or longer) ago was a major accomplishment. It was pretty much a guarantee of a steady job anyone would be proud to hold, and with a robust pension to boot.
No longer. Unfortunately and for many reasons, the USPS has become a dinosaur. Now it seems no one wants to work for them at any wage. Prices go up and up and up, and yet service goes down and down and down.
President Trump has it right. One word: Privatize!
Actually I can assure you that the answer isn’t privatization. Overseas where I have lived the postal service got privatized and got even worse than before which was almost unimaginable but they managed to do it. The answer is to have accountability and provision of service metrics .
You can say goodbye to rural delivery if USPS is privatized. Do you think any company can make money out here delivering letters for 73 cents? We live in a rural state; be careful what you wish for.
Mark. Agree. The PO is infrastructure. It’s kind of amazing to take a letter from anywhere and get it there, and I think folks don’t really understand the complexities. Shouldn’t be required to make a profit; has a bunch of government restrictions the competitors don’t have, who also don’t do regular mail. Amazon’s not helping. That being said, an overhaul wouldn’t hurt, if done well.
DJT is moving the USPS to the Department of Commerce. Let’s hope that move brings change to all the USPS. It’s not just Montpelier. We recently waited for weeks and made more than a dozen trips to local Post Office locations trying to retrieve a lost package. Many of them are really a mess and they don’t know where packages are.
Same here where I live. Mail comes once maybe twice a week. Everything late. Once even a package was noted by the seller as delivered but came three days later. Call the PO and the phone rings forever. Too many chiefs maybe, not enough braves. (Hopefully that’s not going to be construed racist).
This problem is not unique to Vermont, I live in Ohio and cannot count the number of times I have received someone else’s mail and how when I ran a business, checks sent to the east coast never arrived?
Perhaps Trump’s idea of taking over the extremely inefficient USPS is a really good idea.
Part of the reason that the USPS is inefficient is that it is required to deliver that letter you sent to your sister in Alaska for 73 cents. Ready to give up rural free delivery?
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
If you speak to employees of the USPS the problem seems to be the same everywhere. There are not enough workers and the workers who do the heavy lifting are treated very poorly.
Employees can’t take reasonable time off and they are over-worked and expected to deliver (mostly packages) in impossible situations. Whatever deal the USPS has with Amazon needs to be reviewed.
Visiting the USPS main distribution and processing centers it’s easy to see a lot of dysfunction and confusion. At minimum, I think they need a new leader.
In States like Vermont, perhaps if the hand-outs (rent, food, medical) were not so ……….. plentiful as incentive not to work, those open postal jobs would be
filled.
I agree with President Trump. The USPS should be treated like a business, so it will at least pay for itself. DOGE anyone?
Re: If you speak to employees of the USPS the problem seems to be the same everywhere. There are not enough workers and the workers who do the heavy lifting are treated very poorly.
And would you expect those employees to say differently? After all, they don’t have to work for the USPS.
An aside: as a former Workforce Investment Board member (liaison between businesses and schools), employers have consistently said that the problem businesses face isn’t a shortage of workers. It’s a shortage of qualified workers. And qualifications, more often than not, include being willing to do and improve upon ‘heavy lifting’ (a metaphor to be sure). In any business where merit is secondary to a so-called ‘human right’, resentment in the ranks is inevitable.
Case in point: Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and myriad other ‘common carriers’, deal with these issues every day. And we read about various collective bargaining issues (i.e., between management and unions) all the time. So why are USPS employees so privileged?
The current contract between Amazon and USPS is set to expire this year.
“The contract between Amazon and USPS is a critical part of the e-commerce giant’s logistics and delivery strategy. When the contract ends in 2025, several scenarios are possible, including renewal, a new contract, or a shift to other carriers. The terms of the contract will likely be renegotiated, potentially leading to changes in package volume, delivery speed, and services offered.”
You can see some of the terms here:
https://gbtimes.com/when-does-the-amazon-contract-with-usps-end/
If you come into the PO here in Vermont, you’ll be expected to provide your own vehicle (the trucks can’t do the snow,) and you’ll be expected to work 8-10 hour days, 6-7 days a week. For $20 an hour, and very minor benefits, with no clear path to the more generous “career,” positions. Better conditions and pay stocking shelves at Walmart. This is why they can’t find people, and why you’re not getting your mail on time.
S.Lowery –
The USPS offers a competitive compensation benefits package.
Compensation & Benefits
In addition to competitive basic pay rates, most Postal Service employees also receive regular salary increases, overtime pay, night shift differential, and Sunday premium pay.
Health Insurance
The Postal Service participates in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, which provides excellent coverage and flexibility with most of the cost paid by the Postal Service. There are many plans available, including both traditional insurance coverage and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Employee premium contributions are not subject to most taxes, making health insurance even more affordable.
Flexible Spending Accounts
Career employees may participate in the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Program after one year of service. Tax-free FSA contributions can be used to cover most out-of-pocket health care and dependent care (day care expenses).
Retirement
The Postal Service participates in the federal retirement program, which provides a defined benefit annuity at normal retirement age, as well as disability coverage.
Thrift Savings Plan
Career postal employees may contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), which is similar to 401(k) retirement savings plans offered by private sector employers. Employees contribute to TSP on a tax-deferred basis, and may receive automatic and matching contributions (up to 5 percent of pay) from the Postal Service.
Social Security & Medicare
Newly hired postal employees are covered under Social Security and Medicare.
Life Insurance
The Postal Service offers coverage through the Federal Employee’s Group Life Insurance Program. The cost of basic coverage is fully paid by the Postal Service, with the option to purchase additional coverage through payroll deductions.
Leave
The Postal Service offers generous annual (vacation) and sick leave – 10 days of annual leave per year for the first 5 years, increasing to 15 days per year after 5 years of service, and to 20 days per year after 15 years of service. In addition, full-time employees earn 3 hours per pay period as insurance against loss of income due to illness or accident.
Holidays
The Postal Service observes 10 holidays each year.
Career Development & Training
The Postal Service offers a learning environment that reinforces success through training initiatives that allow employees to improve basic operational knowledge and gain leadership skills. Executive-level development is provided through a comprehensive multi-level program designed for those executives meeting certain high-performance criteria.
Jay, The full benefits only come with “career” positions, and I know someone who worked at the Post Office for years waiting to get one, to do essentially the same job. The jobs doing Amazon deliveries don’t even offer health care.
Waiting to buy my first one dollar stamp. Will Trump become the new postmaster????
Vermont elected reps in Washington are doing such a wonderful job…just look at how well the post office in the capital ,Montpelier runs…NOT!
Vote those numb nuts (Ops, not all have that) out, and vote in some Trump people.
Trump aware of this problem, and likely to task the Dept of Commerce to take over operations of the post offices, as what we have now is a expensive joke, that works like a 3rd world countries post offices. Meanwhile businesses having problem should switch to UPS/FEDX/DHL/TNT and grind them to make a deal until Trumps team does their magic…hang on.
I suspect the problem can be found in our long term, publicly paid legislators (Federal and State) who are more interested in massive social change rather than having a society and government that function.
All our local P.O. employees are totally dedicated and working hard. Same case in all the post offices around us.
In all the legitimate criticisms of the USPS put forth here and many other forums, I haven’t seen anyone address the most important development that triggered the avalanche of problems and failure to correct them — mail-in ballots.
How on earth can we secure the integrity of our elections when a large portion of votes are lost, delayed beyond deadlines, and unverifiable through lack of ID, ridiculous “provisional ballots” which almost always end up counted, and activist harvesting and fraud. It’s not just a matter of getting your letters and shipments; it’s a matter of unverifiable elections, lasting weeks and months in some places, which affects national security.
Leftist legislators erected this system in many states. They won’t fix it because it is stacked in their favor, while their NGO’s (that taxpayers unknowingly have been funding) pay their foot soldiers/activists, and kick back donations to their campaigns and fake non-profits of their favored legislators.
Oh and I forgot to mention the excuse for their mail-in ballot scam. Create a media coordinated plandemic to keep people afraid and in their homes, not to mention riot and academic push for racist DEI and sexist transvestism to help divide the people. What a great way to rig elections…until the people catch on to their deceit and wake up. As we’re learning about all our institutions, it’s tough for people to admit they’ve been lied to for years and years.
Smurfing: “According to Bernegger’s records, 20 people made 7,380 contributions for a total of $197,223 donation. And that’s just the top 20 and just via ActBlue. Each of those contributions is a campaign finance violation, falsifying business records, forgery, identify theft, wire fraud, and more. This is a massive scandal that the institutions have ignored.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5158323-democrats-struggle-rebuild-party/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Younger people hardly use the USPS at all. Why would we need to? I know I never get anything except redundant paper bills paid online and those wasteful mailers we can never opt out of… I say bye bye PO. Give us our money back. Mailing paper is not sustainable anyway.