RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond residents and city leaders are frustrated after the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) declined to attend a meeting to provide insight into ongoing mail issues.
The Postal Town Hall meeting was sponsored by Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette W. McEachin, with the hopes of facilitating an open dialogue between the U.S. Postal Service and citizens in response to a notable increase in concerns from residents over mail not being delivered.
“[USPS] could answer a lot of questions if they were willing to,” McEachin said.
According to McEachin, the current question on top of many Richmond resident’s minds are “Where is my mail?” and “Why hasn’t it been delivered?”
Commonwealth’s Attorney McEachin’s office planned the event about a week ago. Hearing from the federal entity was the forum’s focal point.
“We didn’t think that that was going to be too big of an ask,” McEachin said.
According to McEachin, the postal service initially agreed to attend the event, but gradually became less and less responsive until they backed out of the event, citing scheduling conflicts.
“The suggestion was that they didn’t want to have or participate in the town hall because it might have negatively impacted any criminal investigation,” McEachin said. “But you can certainly have a town hall without discussing criminal matters.”
Now, the state of the city’s mail service access remains stuck in limbo during the gift-giving season.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office said it is eager to continue to press for solutions as reports of mail being lost or stolen increase in frequency.
“Federal authorities are aware of this,” McEachin said. “The local authorities are aware of this. But ultimately, it’s the United States Postal Service that is responsible for either delivering your mail or telling you why they can’t or they won’t, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
McEachin said, in some cases and through certain systems, there are ways to confirm mail made it into the hands of postal workers, but where it goes afterwards remains a mystery.
“No one knows and nobody will say,” McEachin said.
According to officials, the Richmond Police Department can — and has — helped look into specific cases where there is evidence of a crime like mail being stolen or mailboxes being vandalized. However, when mail goes missing or simply remains unaccounted for, the U.S. Postal Service is the sole agency that can provide information.
The U.S. Postal Service has not yet addressed whether or not they would be open to planning a future discussion with the public.
In the meantime, for those experiencing mail trouble, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office shared the following chart to help those with questions about their mail:
