RICHMOND, Va. -- Timely mail delivery in parts of Central Virginia is getting better, but still not great, according to state lawmakers who met with U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Wednesday. Mail delivery has been an issue for months following the "disastrous" rollout of a Regional Processing and Distribution Center in eastern Henrico County last year. After hearing from frustrated Virginians, some state lawmakers are now sharing a little positive news about mail service.
According to the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General, the one-time delivery rate of first-class mail in Virginia improved from 66 percent to 77.4 percent during the first quarter of this year, still far from U.S.P.S's goal of 93 percent.
"The postal service brought us not the last quarter’s data, but even data from the last couple of weeks, showing that on-time mail delivery is now getting very near the national average," Sen. Tim Kaine (D - Virginia) told CBS 6 following the meeting DeJoy.
"The Postmaster said that he thinks that these are sustainable, that we're not likely to go backward, but he still believes there's more on the positive that we can do," Kaine said.
Virginia is still considered the third worst in terms of mail service performance, coming behind Wisconsin and Georgia.
"We suggested to the Post Office and to the Postmaster directly about some things that they could do to improve communication with Virginians," Kaine said, saying that congressional delegation may assist with messaging.
Kaine, along with Senator Mark Warner (D - Virginia), Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D - Richmond) and Rep. Rob Wittman (R - Henrico) have fielded communication from community members since last year's roll out.
The lawmakers acknowledged that data showed Virginia is moving in the right direction, the improvement must remain consistent.
"People still need to gain some confidence," Kaine said.
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"People still need to gain some confidence," Kaine said.
The on-time delivery rate of first-class mail in Virginia improved from 66 percent to 77 percent during the first quarter of 2024, according to the USPS Inspector General. Still a stretch from the postal service's goal of 93 percent.
At one point, Virginia was last in the nation in terms of mail service efficiency.
The most recent data ranked Virginia 47 out of the 50 states.
A statistic Kaine called "entirely insufficient."
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