USPS Mail Delivery Slowdown Hits Frankfort Residents

FRANKFORT, IL — Just in time for the holidays, some Frankfort residents are seeing the results of U.S. Postal Service policies that went into effect Oct. 1, specifically longer than usual delays in first-class package service delivery.

A Frankfort resident in the Green Garden neighborhood took to social media last week reaching out to other residents to find out if they were experiencing any delays in mail delivery. The resident claimed that there was no mail delivery on back-to-back days, and delivery had been spotty on other days.

A customer relations coordinator for the USPS district in Illinois that handles mail delivery in Frankfort told Patch via email that management is aware of the delays and "is taking steps to address the concerns."

"Our workforce, like others, is not immune to the human impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic," the email stated. "We are flexing our available resources to match the workload created by the impacts of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis."

The USPS had previously announced that beginning Oct. 1 customers could start to see a slowdown in mail delivery, particularly in first-class mail and periodicals, as part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's Delivering for America plan, a 10-year strategic plan for a "comprehensive modernization of the Postal Service."

Related: Slower Mail, Higher Prices: 5 Things To Know About USPS Changes

A key point in the plan is to reduce dependency on air transportation for mail delivery and shift the focus to ground transportation instead, "which is more reliable and affordable compared to air transportation," according to the USPS.

The USPS said that the majority of first-class package service, 68 percent, would maintain a two- to three-day delivery timeline, but the farther a package has to travel to reach its destination, the longer it could take to arrive.

"Packages traveling the greatest distances will be most affected, with a day or two of transit time added for some [first-class package service] items," according to USPS. "Four percent will be upgraded from a 3-day to 2-day service standard. For the remainder of the volume (32 percent), the service standard will increase by one or two days."

Related: 2021 Holiday Shipping Deadlines In Frankfort

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