In Over Its Head -- Time To Privatize Mail Service In The Bakken -- April 8, 2015

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

A new audit shows the U.S. Postal Service in North Dakota rarely met national service standards in recent years, and high employee turnover contributed to delayed mail delivery and excessive customer wait times. The audit by the Office of Inspector General concludes that while the Postal Service has taken action in response to the Bakken oil boom, more improvements need to be made to improve employee retention and customer service. Some findings from the audit: 

• North Dakota had a 165 percent increase in package deliveries from 2010-2014, compared with the national average of 21 percent
• the number of delivery points increased 14 percent, compared with 1 percent nationwide
• delivery staff were overworked, with rural carrier overtime increasing 241 percent between fiscal years 2011 and 2014. Nationally, overtime increased 105 percent
• mail carriers in the Bakken returned from their routes after 5 p.m. as often as 56 percent of the time in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. This improved in 2014, dropping as low as 23 percent
• while much of the audit focused on western North Dakota, it also recommends improvements to mail processing in Fargo and Bismarck and noted that the Fargo Prairiewood Station had the most instances of excessive wait times.

The subject line for this post is (somewhat) in jest.

But, if you are sending a package to the Bakken, use some carrier other than USPS.