PALERMO, Maine — Over the last several weeks, Rep. Katrina Smith has heard from hundreds of constituents who’ve had trouble getting their mail.
They’re people like Paul Armstrong, a Palermo resident who said he counts on regular delivery to get medications and to pay his bills.
He’s got no beef with the local postman. But he never knows when he’ll get a delivery. Or when the local post office will be open.
“You go and there’s no one there,” he said. “You never know the hours. So many people still rely on snail mail.”
Armstrong has written to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden about his concerns.
Smith, a Republican who represents China, Windsor, Somerville and Palermo, has written federal officials, too, sending a letter last week to Postmaster General David Steiner.
“The problems in our state have reached a crisis level, and they demand urgent attention and action from USPS leadership to restore the dependable service that rural Americans deserve,” Smith wrote.
She said it’s been a problem for several years, but in the last six weeks, it’s gotten much worse. She estimates she’s received hundreds of complaints from constituents.
“In Windsor, people had no mail delivery for nine days,” she said. “They’re just really concerned they are not going to get their prescriptions on time, they are not getting their checks on time.”
U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Steve Doherty said he wasn’t aware of Smith’s letter, but that the postmaster general’s office would reply to Smith directly. A spokesperson for Steiner did not respond to a request for comment.
Smith did receive a short response from a Maine-based post office.
“The Local Post Office is experiencing severe staffing shortages and an extreme increase in mail and package volume at the moment causing some delays,” the note reads. “They are receiving help from neighboring offices and the entire management team to try to stay current. No address should go more than a day or two without delivery. We just ask for some patience as we navigate the next few weeks.”
In her letter, Smith said the holiday season is making the problem even worse as postal carriers try to deliver packages alongside the regular mail. She cited contracts with Amazon as a particular concern.
“While these partnerships may benefit urban areas, in rural Maine, they flood already strained facilities with high volumes of e-commerce shipments, diverting resources away from traditional mail services,” she wrote. “Carriers are forced to prioritize these packages, often at the expense of essential mail like prescriptions and checks.”
Armstrong said many people in Palermo, a Waldo County town with a population of about 1,400, check a local Facebook page to see when the post office will be open. He said a lack of equipment and personnel is contributing to the problem.
And he has nothing but praise for the local postal carrier.
“The guy’s even come on Sunday with his wife to make deliveries,” Armstrong said. “He’s a great guy.”
To get more local news, activities and weather in Maine, download the Spectrum News app.