Rep. Johnson tours Sioux Falls USPS facility and discusses issues

South Dakotans continue to raise concerns and frustrations about mail service. One South Dakota congressman is hoping that a meeting on Thursday will lead to the changes his constituents wish to see. 

Congressman Dusty Johnson hosted a roundtable discussion to allow South Dakotans to voice their frustrations with late and lost mail. He and Texas Congressman Pete Sessions, the Postal Service Oversight Subcommittee Chair, took a private tour at the Postal Service’s distribution and processing center in northern Sioux Falls. 

They pointed out issues impacting service and hope for shared solutions. 

Johnson and Sessions were impressed by the postal workers, and Johnson reiterated that the issues they see are not locally caused. It was about getting mail to Sioux Falls. 

“South Dakota is not the problem. Our people are getting it done. Our facilities are getting it done. This is a broader problem,” Johnson said. 

There have been plenty of critiques of the postal service in recent years, but Sessions said he’s grateful that Johnson is presenting solutions to go with it. 

“The opportunity for us to come up here means that we saw firsthand and talked to the people that are here. How is the service working? What do you see? One thing that Dusty said most of all was, what can we do to help?” Sessions explained. 

Johnson pointed to three main issues to be addressed. First, transparency and communication need to get better. Second, investing in processing center “weak links”. Processing centers like those in St. Louis and Kansas City were pointed out as examples of places where mail is consistently slowed. 

Lastly, he said the services at Lewis Drug and Hy-Vee need to be brought back to shorten lines at other USPS locations. 

Of late, they said they are seeing some wins. Investments in other Midwestern cities are having a positive ripple effect in South Dakota. 

Johnson said investments into Sioux Falls processing have provided better performance metrics in the last 18 months, too. Plus, new equipment should improve efficiency. 

 According to Johnson, the new parcel-handling machine will process 7,000 large packages an hour, replacing a 27-year-old machine. 

“Because it can handle the larger and more complex packages, that will dramatically reduce the number of hand-processed packages and absolutely will increase the delivery metrics in that Sioux Falls area beginning in June,” Johnson said. 

Sessions can’t guarantee changes right away, but with more scrutiny and actionable steps pitched, USPS may act. 

“They feel like things are getting better, but they do admit that there’s a larger issue of getting packages here to where they get delivered in two days. That is something that I have to take back with me,” Sessions said. 

“When the chairman of the oversight subcommittee comes, they [USPS] sent some really big players. They made commitments to him, not just to me, but to the chairman that they were going to address these issues. There will not be an easy solution. They’re moving in the right direction, but they need a multi-year, detailed plan for how to deal with these midwestern hubs,” Johnson said. 

Sessions was honest about the challenges the postal service is facing in order to adapt and improve. He mentioned difficulties hiring workers, staying up to date with technology and needing more resources to deliver to smaller towns.