Mail delays linger for Georgia residents months after new USPS facility opening

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A U.S. Postal Service vehicle is seen. Georgia residents remain upset as mail delays linger.

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy remains under fire over his 10-year plan to consolidate 60 mail processing facilities across the country. It’s called “Delivering for America,” but its implementation is causing major delays in letters getting to their destinations.  

Georgia residents have experienced some of the worst mail delays, after the Postal Service consolidated four facilities into one — which has been plagued with problems. 

Local leaders and residents are fed up with the delays. 

Claire Graveline is getting married in August, but a lot of her "save the date" invitations for her wedding got hung up in the mail. 

"It's been an adventure," she said. Graveline is one of many Georgians who have had problems sending letters. In her case, it caused issues with her wedding planning. 

"It just impacts the planning process when it comes to, you know, gauging the total guest count, which, obviously, it's a domino effect, right?" she said. "Like, it affects all of the services that you have to book and organize with vendors." 

Graveline says six weeks after she sent the invite cards, a third of her guests still hadn’t received them. So she and her fiancé called all 200 invitees.

"It can feel disappointing that you can't depend on the Postal Service," Graveline said. "And just their ability to, you know, handle important mailings reliably and efficiently beyond wedding invitations."

She’s not alone. Only an estimated 36% of mail is getting delivered on time since a new processing facility in Palmetto, Ga., went online in February.

It has caused delays of absentee ballots for the state’s primary on Tuesday.

One county reported that a number of ballots never made it to their elections office. Several others have urged voters to return absentee ballots to drop boxes instead of mailing them . 

The Postal Service said it's still waiting on some equipment and positions still need to be filled at the Palmetto plant. 

Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is also fed up with delays. He grilled DeJoy in a fiery Senate Committee meeting in April after hearing complaints of slow mail service.

"I've got constituents with prescriptions that aren't being delivered," Ossoff said. "I've got constituents who can't pay their rent and their mortgages. I've got businesses who aren't able to ship products or receive supplies." 

DeJoy defended the Palmetto facility and said the problems were just temporary. 

"The team is working very hard and I can assure you that in the long run you will have one of the best facilities in the country," he said, but Ossoff shot back that the long run is "too long."

Problems with the consolidation have gotten so bad that DeJoy paused new movement on his plan until next year. Meanwhile in Georgia, officials say their new processing center will get more sorting machines and improved transportation to get letters to people on time. 

Ossoff said he he'll continuing to press DeJoy for solutions to the delays.