Minneapolis neighborhood frustrated over inconsistent mail delivery

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Folks in a Minneapolis neighborhood say they are pretty frustrated with the U.S. Postal Service. Some residents say they haven't gotten mail for several weeks over the past few months and they want to know why.

“This is the worst by far that it has ever been, that I’ve ever had issues will mail service,” said Travis Joseph.

Just like the snow, complaints over the inconsistency in U.S. mail service are piling up in the Jordan neighborhood in north Minneapolis.

“We pay them to do a service and it’s not being done now,” said Joseph.

Joseph claims that in the past five months, he’s gone 33 days without mail delivery. He says that the severe winter weather these past few weeks have only made matters worse.

“A lot of not getting mail for days on end,” said Joseph. “We have not gotten mail since last Thursday in this area.”

Joseph says that he’s taken his concerns to both national and local postmaster officials.

“I’ve reached out to them in D.C., they say that they have a shortage of people to hire, when we reach out to the post office here they’re telling us they’re short staffed,” he said.

“As a resident we’re responsible for clearing our sidewalks and I do get that, but they have a responsibility as well,” said Wallace Lockhart, a neighbor.

Lockhart says he is also experiencing delays in mail service.

“It’s been inconsistent,” said Lockhart. “We may go two to three days without getting anything.”

When questioned about the complaints, a spokesperson with the United States Postal Service told FOX 9 that they are looking into the matter, but released a statement, saying, “Postal employees make every reasonable effort to deliver mail in many difficult weather conditions. However, there may be instances when we are unable to safely deliver due to access concerns caused from winter weather.”

Joseph thinks that their issues go much deeper than that.

“I honestly think that they don’t want to admit that they can’t handle it,” said Joseph. “I honestly think that they don’t have the people to do it.”