Louisville congressman brings city's USPS delays to House floor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's mail delays are getting national attention.

Louisville Rep. Morgan McGarvey addressed the city's mail delays on the House floor Thursday, ahead of his expected visit the Gardiner Lane Regional Post Office in Louisville Friday.

A U.S. Postal Service employee said they're being told to get things cleaned up at the facility before McGarvey's visit.

President Donald Trump is talking about privatizing the USPS, putting it under the control of the Commerce Department in what would amount to an executive branch takeover of the independent agency.

The move, Trump said, would stop losses at the $78 billion-a-year agency that has struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail. But the Postal Service and postal unions have fought, and are expected to continue fighting, against that.

"Since before Christmas, I've heard from Louisvillians every day about mail delays. I've heard from people who haven't received paychecks, prescriptions or W-2s," McGarvey, D-Kentucky's 3rd District, said. "One woman told me she received a bill so late, she owed more in late fees than she did on the bill. What concerns me is that if the Trump Administration gets its way, things will get worse."

In January, USPS blamed the delays on weather, but employees said delays had already been happening. One employee at Louisville's main post office filmed a video showing a backlog of mail inside the facility, even before the winter weather set in.

In a recent report, WDRB captured drone footage of several dozen trailers filled with mail, along with empty crates and pallets behind the post office. The following day, the area was cleared up.

USPS representatives have continued to decline or not respond to repeated interview requests from WDRB, and will not let media attend McGarvey's tour at the main post office Friday.

McGarvey has been working to get answers about the delays at the federal level. In late January, he sent a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who told the congressman the problems were weather-related. But McGarvey's office pushed back. Earlier this month, he sent another letter, this time to Washington, urging lawmakers to step in.

Last week, DeJoy announced his plans to step down after a nearly five-year tenure marked by the pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots during two presidential elections, and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.

DeJoy stepped into the role in 2020 during Trump's first term, as a Republican donor who owned a logistics business before taking office and was the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who was not a career postal employee.

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