A Northeast D.C. neighborhood is dealing with significant postal service delays, with some residents saying more than a month has gone by since they’ve gotten important mail like medications and stimulus checks.
“This has just been an ongoing, uphill battle,” said Latoya Moore, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for the Carver-Langston area. She said many residents are getting confirmation emails that first-class mail has been sent, but never delivered.
In these email confirmations, some residents have been able to read the mail that hasn’t been delivered, but other residents who are older or without internet access are unable to see what they aren’t receiving.
“Elderly and senior residents, they don’t use electronic mail to pay their bills [or] read email. They do everything by Postal Service, because that’s what they’re accustomed to doing,” Moore said.
She said they’ve been getting junk mail but not the important mail sent first class.
“Stimulus checks, child support checks, credit card statements … we have seniors who have not received medication,” Moore said.
She’s gone to the post office and contacted multiple offices to try to get answers, but sees no end in sight.
“It’s overwhelming, actually. My anxiety has been sky-high,” Moore said. “I worry about those who can’t fight for themselves, like our seniors and our residents with disabilities.”
Monday afternoon, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton sent a letter to D.C.’s acting postmaster, Eddie Masangcay, demanding answers by Friday on “how the U.S. Postal Service will fix this urgent problem in the District.”
“… Residents throughout the District of Columbia are experiencing a significant increase in delayed and undelivered mail,” Norton wrote. “This is simply unacceptable.”
WTOP has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office for comment.
