Mail delivery problems persist for post office

By Matt Aiken & Dave Williams  /  The Nugget & Capitol Beat  -----------  Beware of the big blue box in front of the Dahlonega Post Office.  That’s the message some local postal workers want to send to the community as problems persist with the new regional distribution center in Palmetto.  If you’re mailing a letter or package in Dahlonega to another Dahlonega address make sure to bypass the blue bin by the curb, and also the slots inside the post office, and hand your parcel directly to an actual worker at the front counter.
On Friday morning, postal employees, who asked to remain unnamed, told The Nugget that if any Dahlonega mail is given to them directly they can make sure that the parcel stays in Dahlonega.
Once they hit the bins, however, it’s a different story as mail intended for the other side of town will enter a stack that is headed approximately 80 miles down the road to the much maligned distribution center that has essentially become the Bermuda Triangle of Georgia mail.
Dahlonega Sunrise Rotary Club President Diane Bates can attest to this.
Over 400 invitations to the club’s 2024 Tribute Gala fundraiser were sealed, stamped and dropped off at the post office four weeks ago. And that was the last time they were seen.
“It makes no sense,” said Bates. “Most of those 400 were people here in Dahlonega.”

OPEN INVITATION

When Bates investigated the matter, local postal workers told her the invitations were most likely stuck down in Palmetto.
This has thrown a sizable wrench in the plans for the tribute dinner for former UNG president Dr. Bonita Jacobs, which is also a crucial annual fundraiser benefitting numerous local causes and charities.
“Our mission is to make $50,000,” said Bates. “But none of the invitations have been received that we know of. And we called quite a few.”
Tickets for the tribute, which is to take place May 23, are $100 per person. And the clock is ticking for RSVPs to the usually well-attended event.
“We just are way behind in our fundraising,” said Bates. “And instead of having 200 people attending we’ve got like 50 people.”
So if you’re reading these words, consider this your invitation.
Bates said that the event, which will take place at the UNG Convocation Center, is open to all who would like to participate. The deadline to RSVP is May 15. Registration information can be found at dahlonegasunriserotary.com.
Meanwhile, the troubles extend far beyond Dahlonega as much of the state is grappling with the repercussions of Palmetto postal problems.

‘FIX IT’

Last month, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., grilled the head of the U.S. Postal Service about the snafu during a hearing held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Since the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center began operations in Palmetto earlier this year, only 36 precent of inbound mail is being delivered on time, said the senator. About 66 percent of outbound mail is being delivered on time, he said.
“I’ve got constituents with prescriptions that aren’t being delivered,” Ossoff told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “I’ve got constituents who can’t pay their rent or mortgages. I’ve got businesses that aren’t able to ship products or receive supplies. You are failing abysmally to fulfill your core mission in my state.”
DeJoy attributed the delays to problems rolling out a long-overdue USPS restructuring plan aimed at making the postal service financially self-sufficient and better able to compete with private shippers including Federal Express and the United Parcel Service.
The plan calls for consolidating local mail distribution offices into huge regional centers, starting in metro Atlanta and Richmond, Va. The Atlanta-area consolidation involved moving nearly 10,000 employees from 10 locations to the new Palmetto distribution center, he said.
“The issues that we had here were in fact management issues on the ground, were in fact employee attendance issues,” DeJoy said. “Now that the organization is engaged … I see the whole team getting better, understanding the transition we have to make.”
DeJoy said he expects to have the problems at both Atlanta and Richmond corrected by this summer.
“Richmond and Atlanta and the whole Georgia area will be the finest run part of the organization very shortly,” he said. “We have to allow time to transition.”
But Ossoff said Georgians who aren’t getting their mail on time don’t have time to wait for the problems to be fixed.
“You’ve got weeks, not months to fix this,” the senator told DeJoy. “If you don’t fix it, I don’t think you’re fit for the job.”

MAIL MAYHEM

Meanwhile, newspaper publishers across the state are taking their complaints directly to members of Georgia’s congressional delegation.
Patrick Graham, president of the Georgia Press Association, which represents 90 percent of the state’s newspaper subscribers, wrote in a letter to the delegation April 8 that many in-town and nearly all out-of-town subscribers are not receiving their newspapers.
The Nugget has been fielding regular calls from subscribers in and around the metro area who have been missing their weekly paper delivery.
Some readers say they’ve gone weeks without a Nugget only to have three or four editions show up in the mail box all at the same time.
In response, The Nugget has been offering to extend subscriptions free of charge to cover these lost weeks until the persistent postal problems are solved.
“We know that folks want to learn what’s happening in Dahlonega, and we do our best to bring them the local news every week,” said Publisher John Bynum. “We are happy our subscribers look forward to reading their Nugget and we are proud to be Lumpkin County’s most reliable news source. Although these postal issues have unfortunately impacted the delivery of many newspapers recently, we hope that readers can eventually expect to receive their paper in a more timely manner in the near future.”
Ultimately DeJoy said these delays are the temporary growing pains in an overhaul of the postal service that’s necessary to stem the flow of red ink from the agency.
“We’re going to fix it,” he told the Senate committee.  “… We’ll get to where we need to be in 60 days.”
And while this is a complicated issue plaguing the state, for Dahlonega-to-Dahlonega mail at least, the answer is simple: Steer clear of the big blue bins, and stay out of Palmetto.