ATLANTA — U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was heavily criticized on Tuesday during a hearing on oversight of the United States Postal Service amid ongoing mail delays in metro Atlanta and elsewhere.
The hearing climaxed with Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff telling DeJoy, "You've got weeks, not months, to fix this, And if you don't fix it, 36% on-time delivery, I don't think you're fit for this job."
Georgia Congressman Mike Collins shared those sentiments, going on to describe the situation with the postal service as "irresponsible" and "a huge problem" that "touches everybody in the country."
The delays, which have gone on for months and appear to stem from Atlanta's new Palmetto mailing facility, risk affecting everything from paychecks to prescriptions and even absentee ballots — a special concern in a current election year.
Collins told 11Alive that the hearing itself was critical in putting DeJoy in the hot seat, forcing him to provide answers after what he called a "lack of transparency" over conditions.
Yet that still doesn't leave him confident that USPS can iron out its issues within the two-week timeframe urged by Ossoff.
"He's been in over his head," Collins said of DeJoy. "He should have already taken that resignation and put it on somebody's desk."
Collins said the meeting actually left him with more questions than answers.
"It begs the question: how did you roll this out?" Collins said. "It's not the first time somebody has consolidated services."
The Republican congressman also said he has questions regarding the supposed $40 billion that the Postal Service is putting into the "Delivering for America" modernization drive, of which new centralized facilities in Atlanta and in other regions are a centerpiece. He believes the organization either didn't know what to do with the money or didn't have a plan to begin with.
"What is the problem? What is the solution? When will you have that solution implemented?" Collins added.
He noted that he hopes to talk one-on-one with DeJoy on April 26 but wants lawmakers to get a personal visit to the Palmetto facility so they can see firsthand just what is going on.
More on the mail delays
11Alive has received more than 2,000 viewer messages asking for answers and help with tracking packages and mail ranging from absentee ballots and tax documents to critical prescription medication and travel documents.
According to the USPS' public dashboard, which measures service performance by zip code, on-time delivery of First-class mail in Georgia dropped in mid-February as the Palmetto facility launched. While Georgia's numbers had previously hovered around 80 percent of on-time delivery at the beginning of 2024, the week of Feb. 24 shows on-time rates taking a dive.