The United States Postal Service’s Inspector General released results of its audit of several St. Louis mail facilities last week, saying it found “systemic issues” with one center even breaking a record for the largest delayed mail backlog in USPS field audit history.

The inspector general’s office released the findings last Wednesday, which covered the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and the Network Distribution Center, plus seven delivery units they service.

According to this audit, the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center had more than 2.5 million delayed pieces of mail between June 3-4, which the Inspector General said was “the largest delayed mail volume since our field operations reviews began in 2021.”

This audit also identified 145 job vacancies at the processing center as of May 14, contributing to delays in sorting and delivery.

“The simmering frustrations of people in my district have been validated with (these) results of an independent audit of postal operations in St. Louis,” U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) said. “It is past time to fix these staffing shortages, hold supervisors accountable, and get the machines in top working order.”

The Republic-Times has logged countless calls in recent years from out-of-county and out-of-state subscribers about a lack of timely delivery for newspapers that must be processed in St. Louis.