‘Where’s my mail?’: Richmond and Henrico residents frustrated by USPS delays

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Some Richmond and Henrico neighborhoods are going a week or longer without a single piece of mail delivered.

“This is sort of neighborhood where folks have been here for over four or five decades. We have a lot of seniors in the community they depend on the mail and want to know what’s coming to them,” Richmond resident J.J. Minor said.

For the past few months, that wasn’t the case in the Church Hill neighborhood off North 35th Street. Minor said their mail was nowhere to be found for days.

“I mean, we hadn’t received mail in 7-10 days in some weeks,” Minor said. “The thought process was, I’m wondering if someone was going to mailboxes and if this was a prank?”

Soon after making several calls to USPS, he quickly learned it wasn’t a prank but a bigger issue—a staffing shortage.

“Of course, some of the neighbors across the street in the retirement home weren’t receiving their mail either, and you know some folks were depending on their medicine,” Minor said. “I don’t know if it’s the pay, I don’t know if they are treating their employees right or if the pay is not enough, but we need to address it, and it’s not just happening here in the East End. It’s happening also in some parts of the West End and West End Henrico.”

One apartment complex in the West End off Libbie Mill Boulevard told residents that the postal service in the area has been short-staffed and unable to visit the building every day.

A spokesperson for the US Postal Service said most areas in Richmond are experiencing expected delivery, but there have been some periods of sporadic mail delivery due to staffing issues. They said they are also implementing steps to help mail carriers by allowing overtime, expanding delivery hours, and using more carriers from nearby offices. They also apologize for any inconvenience and thank customers for their understanding and support.

“Mail should be delivered every day like it used to be, and mail should always be delivered every day,” Minor said. “My thing is let’s talk to the USPS and get our congressional leaders on board and find out how do we address this issue.”

If you have “informed delivery” set up so you can see when your mail is coming ahead of time, USPS is asking that you allow a week before you report that your mail is missing.

USPS will hold a job fair on Friday, March 31, at the Richmond main post office at 1801 Brook Road from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

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