RICHMOND, Va. — The Postal Service's top watchdog uncovered that the hub for mail service in Central Virginia has been without consistent leadership for over a year, causing issues with communication, supervision, and planning that cost the Postal Service $2.3 million in "questioned" costs.
An audit released Jan. 27 says Richmond's Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Sandston has gone without permanent leadership for 14 months following its launch, and three of its four senior leadership positions remain vacant after seeing high turnover among temporary managers.
"These positions are essential to effective operations, especially the plant manager, who is responsible for setting the operational tone and communicating expectations to staff," the audit says.
Though Postal Service management told investigators that there is a plan to fill the positions by March 30, 2025, auditors say the lack of leadership creates a trickle-down effect of trouble for mail delivery.
Local management told investigators that "poor work culture" and "lack of discipline" lead to high absenteeism. On average, about 19% of people scheduled to work at the facility do not show up. The investigation suggested employees "were not concerned about the consequences, as managers were not following policy in implementing actions for unscheduled absenteeism."
Absenteeism due to leave without pay, absence without leave and sick leave led to insufficient staff available for processing operations and extensive use of overtime.
Investigators said the lack of leadership supervision caused the mail to not be correctly sorted in a timely manner.
The audit found that about 43% of issues in "Plant Arrival Quality" were not addressed by management and sorting operations were completed by scheduled clearance times only about 72% of the time, well below the standard of around 80% of the time.
While the redeveloped regional facility is on track to cut costs for the Postal Service, lack of clear communication and expectations from leadership on transportation plans may have resulted in over $2.3 million dollars in additional transportation expenses.
Lawmakers say their offices continue to receive customer complaints, not just in Richmond, but in other areas, too.
"We've got to sit down, because now it's not just Sandston, but there are also serious problems in the Blacksburg area," Sen. Tim Kaine said. "It's not uncommon that there might be a spike in a problem in Charlottesville and then it gets solved, personnel turnover, etc. but we're seeing a persistent pattern in Blacksburg, and this incident in the last 10 days, where mail, including tax bills and things like that, was discovered in Church Hill, is an indication that we still have major problems there."
Related coverage | Bills, cards, tax documents: Dumped mail discovered behind Richmond church (Jan. 28)
“They are starting to go down. We are still getting them though, so we’re continuing to keep that pressure on, until we are back at delivery levels where they should be," said Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan.
Mail service has improved since January 2024 but still remains below target.
Senator Kaine and other lawmakers met with USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in October to discuss challenges and maintained they would continue to meet with USPS officials until mail service becomes more stable.
"We decided last week okay, time for the next meeting with DeJoy, and the whole Congressional delegation sits down with him, and he's been good about doing those meetings, but I don't have that date to report to you right now," Kaine said.
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