Residents of Cook County east of Grand Marais were used to a reliable and regular delivery service from the incumbent rural route contractor, six days a week. Following his retirement on December 31, after 15 years on the route, the replacement contractor failed to show up for work, leaving the route without deliveries for several days.
Rural Route Contractors are independent contractors, individuals and businesses that contract with USPS to deliver mail along designated rural routes. USPS has almost 80,000 rural delivery routes serviced by 133,000 rural contract carriers. For most rural routes, the contractor uses its own vehicle (they must also have a backup car) and receives a maintenance allowance from USPS.
Businesses with multiple Rural Route contracts typically secure sub-contractors to perform the service.
After hearing complaints from constituents about not receiving their mail, Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith penned a letter to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding to know why.
From the letter, “Minnesota-North Dakota District leadership reportedly didn’t know of the issue until Senator Smith inquired on January 8. On December 19, USPS staff assured the Senators that service in Minnesota was stable – a claim that is contradicted by the Cook County problems.”
Throughout its illustrious history, the USPS has been a cornerstone of American society, connecting people across the United States and facilitating communication, commerce, and information. In 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress established the first national postal agency and appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General. This rich legacy continues to make the USPS a vital service for many individuals and businesses.
Rural Route contractors and sub-contractors are not employees of the USPS. They are responsible for providing their own benefits, paying the self-employment tax of 15.3%, and purchasing all supplies needed for their vehicles–including identifying placards, insurance, and safety additions. They are primarily responsible for delivering mail to residences and businesses along their assigned routes, including letters, packages, and other mail items. They also collect outgoing mail from rural mailboxes and interact directly with customers, answering questions about mail delivery and resolving any issues. USPS contracting staff, not local postmasters, are awarding and managing the contracts. Local postmasters do not influence or negotiate with the contractors. Because of that, incidents like the no-show in Grand Marais are not something they or their employees get involved with, which is why they don’t retrieve mail for route customers when they are in the post office.
The USPS does not deliver mail to homes and businesses within the city limits in Grand Marais, so contractors perform all deliveries from that post office outside the city. Silver Bay has two post office employees delivering to homes and businesses. The two city routes now alternate delivery of mail every other day. On any given day, one route receives so-called Market Dominant mail, which the USPS considers pieces where there is usually no direct alternative to the USPS for physically delivering them. Things like first-class mail, marketing mail, and periodicals.
The other route delivers packages.
Several of its competitors, like UPS and Amazon, use the USPS for last-mile delivery of packages, large and small. The USPS began offering last-mile services for competitors in 2004. In October 2013, the USPS entered into a Negotiated Service Agreement with Amazon Fulfillment Inc. (Amazon) to deliver parcels on Sundays. Last year, North Shore post offices saw a significant increase in Amazon packages.
The Grand Marais post office building was occupied when George H. W. Bush was President. Despite the growth of Cook County since then, the building has not been expanded. So when the USPS increased its delivery of Amazon packages, the already crowded facility started receiving hundreds of additional packages each day, straining the capacity of the building, post office staff, and delivery contractors. A contractor route like the one abandoned east of Grand Marais receives up to 200 packages daily.
It’s important to note that the overall volume of traditional mail has declined in recent years due to the rise of digital communication.
A study released by the USPS Inspector General in September last year showed that the volume of Market-Dominant mail across all classes dropped from 201 billion pieces in FY 2008 to 109 billion in FY 2023, a 46% drop. The volume of First‑Class Mail (letters, postcards, and large envelopes) fell 50%, from 92 billion pieces to 46 billion. As consumers and businesses have increasingly turned to electronic alternatives for billing and payment, transactional mail experienced a more significant decline of 52%.
The USPS IG report attributes these declines to a decrease in personal correspondence, reduced political correspondence and mail from non-profits, and electronic alternatives for billing and payment.
Despite continuing to deliver billions of pieces of mail annually, the USPS faces significant financial challenges due to the decrease in mail volume over the last 15 years. It has tried to capitalize on its last-mile services to replace lost revenue. However, the varying sizes and weights of these packages cause extra time and cost for both the local post offices and their Rural Route Contractors.
As of this writing, USPS service has been restored to Cook County residents east of Grand Marais. However, the incident serves as a stark reminder to USPS officials and customers that the future of local delivery service is uncertain, like the weather. This uncertainty underscores the need for vigilance and proactive measures to ensure reliable mail delivery.
