PALMETTO, Ga. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff said he is not surprised by the U.S. Postal Service’s audit of its own operations that says The Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto is still falling short of why it was built in the first place.
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“Fighting this PR battle and trying to persuade the press and the public that everything was fine has been a higher priority than fixing the obvious problem,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes.
Read the list of open audit recommendations from the Office of Inspector General here
It was supposed to improve the quality of service. But broken machines. mismanagement and a lack of staffing has made it nearly impossible for Georgians to get their mail on time for more than a year.
The audit says, “...the facility cannot handle the volume of mail and trailers it receives, and remains one adverse event away from gridlock...the facility continues to experience challenges related to the layout and space needs, management oversight and workplace culture and transportation...”
“Now there’s been some improvement since I started applying that pressure in terms of on-time delivery. But it’s clear palmetto remains very messy – basic failures of management that starts right at the top," Ossoff said.
He said he has hope that USPS can turn things around now that former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has stepped down and the board of governors has a new hire in mind.
The audit also says USPS wants to spend $40 billion on new distribution centers that mirror Palmetto’s design.
“Before USPS spends billions of dollars building out this network of new regional distribution centers, they need to get their house in order. I mean, this is basic management failures,” Ossoff said.
The audit lists eight recommendations to improve things in Palmetto.
They include coming up with a plan for processing packages that can’t get on machines here, making more efficient use of the space and staffing at this facility and the plant manager has to follow through with holding supervisors accountable for recurring problems.
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