A newly completed federal audit takes the Shawnee Mission post office in Mission to task for a number of issues that have contributed to persistent mail delivery delays in Johnson County in recent months.
The U.S. Office of the Inspector General investigated three Kansas City-area post offices as part of its audit, including the Shawnee Mission branch, 6029 Broadmoor St., issuing individual reports on each.
The audit found multiple problems with the Shawnee Mission Post Office, including staffing shortages and non-compliance with standard operating procedures, as reasons for extended mail delivery times.
Spanning May to July, the audit identified problems in areas such as delayed mail, improper scanning of packages, missing arrow keys to mailboxes and poor timekeeping and property conditions.
The audit was the result of public complaints
Earlier this year, complaints about delayed mail deliveries in Johnson County and the broader Kansas City region hit a fever pitch, enough so that Sen. Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, drafted a letter to USPS Postmaster Louis DeJoy demanding answers.
The request came on the heels of a 2023 joint letter from Republican Sen. Jerry Moran and Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids that also asked DeJoy to address issues with the mail.
Upon receiving the results of the audit this week, Marshall said in a press release that the audit “reaffirmed” many of the problems he had been hearing about from constituents.
“Currently, the USPS is not meeting its obligations and is falling far short of its own goals and objectives,” he said. “My goal is to get answers, demand accountability, and fight for Kansans who have been impacted by these failures.”
In a statement to the Post, Davids said the audit shows more work needs to be done to ensure mail is delivered promptly in Johnson County.
“The audit makes clear that the USPS must do more to ensure Kansans receive reliable, timely mail delivery,” she stated. “I will keep working across the aisle with my colleagues in Kansas’ delegation to help fix these issues and ensure our postal service meets the needs of our communities.”
The Shawnee Mission branch in Mission, which currently serves more than 72,000 people, will need to correct its problems quickly as it transitions to a sorting and delivery center by the end of 2024, the audit stated.
That change will nearly double the number of routes and population the office serves to about 128,500 people.
Mail delays and staffing issues are causing big problems
In the audit, the Office of Inspector General noted that when it inspected the Mission facility in May, it discovered about 16,000 pieces of delayed mail, including letters, flat envelopes and packages on the workroom floor, “hot cases” (or bins for mail that needs to go out immediately) and carrier cases.
The audit also noted that staff was under-reporting its delayed mail count.
“While they reported 8,413 delayed mail pieces, this only represented about 53% of the delayed mail volume we identified at the unit,” it stated.
Branch management blamed the problems on late deliveries from the Kansas City Processing and Distribution Center, which was also audited, as well as staffing issues combined with unscheduled absences, the audit stated.
“Specifically, on the day prior to our arrival, the unit had four vacant routes and seven unscheduled carrier absences. In addition, the unit was short three carriers and two supervisors,” the audit stated.
The audit noted other problems
Other problems highlighted in the audit include poor package deliveries, from improper scanning at the delivery site, packages scanned away from their drop-off point and deliveries that were either mishandled or poorly separated between Priority and standard mail.
The problems persisted because management was not monitoring scanning performance numbers daily or enforcing compliance, the audit said.
The branch failed at timekeeping in the early months of 2024, the audit continued, including missing or incomplete forms and an unauthorized and unresolved instance of overtime pay.
The audit also addressed problems at the facility, including missing arrow keys, which gives employees access to mail receptacles, as well as poor property conditions, such as missing or out-of-date fire extinguishers, poor signage, a corroded pipe in a bathroom and missing ceiling tiles.
In most cases, the audit concluded the problems were the result of a lack of oversight from management.
What’s next
The Shawnee Mission post office branch is taking steps to correct the problems noted by the Office of Inspector General’s audit, management stated in a letter attached to the audit.
In the branch’s response, they mention re-training staff, conversations highlighting problem areas and reviews as ways to correct problems.
In mid-September, a second report will be issued by the Office of Inspector General detailing concrete solutions the branch is implementing to solve issues mentioned in the audit.
Go deeper: U.S. Post Office in Mission among those to be audited for mail delivery delays
