LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — More Louisville-area residents say they're waiting weeks for mail and packages to arrive, and many customers believe the delays begin after their items reach the USPS Processing and Distribution Center on Gardiner Lane.
The facility has remained under scrutiny since federal audits last year found more than 100,000 delayed pieces of mail and documented staffing shortages, missed scans and late dispatches.
At the time, Louisville was the only city in America to trigger four separate federal audits of its postal operations. Along with the Gardiner lane facility, the Pleasure Ridge Park, Middletown and Iroquois Station branches were also audited.
Now, some residents report the problem has come back around.
"We are holding the post office's feet to the fire on this," said Congressman Morgan McGarvey, who represents Louisville. "We continually get flooded with calls from people who have packages and mail that is delayed."
One Louisville woman said two packages finally arrived last week after taking nearly a month to reach her. She also said a letter mailed from Chicago took more than three weeks to be delivered.
Another customer in Shelbyville has been waiting for a package that tracking records show left Michigan May 30, arrived in Louisville June 2, was rerouted to Georgetown, Indiana, June 3, and has not yet been delivered.
"This isn't just like missing a birthday card, which is something you don't want to see happen," McGarvey said. "This is missing bills, people's life-saving medications."
Postal employees said that while there are still some delays, they are nowhere near the level seen last year, when bins of undelivered mail piled up inside the Louisville processing center.
Along with the 2025 audits, McGarvey sent a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General last year after he heard from what he called an alarming number of people who said they're not getting their bills, medicine or mail on time.
Now, the congressman said he is once again meeting with letter carriers and postal employees recently to discuss the ongoing problems.
USPS groups Kentucky and West Virginia together when tracking on-time delivery rates. So far this year, the Postal Service said the region's on-time delivery rate is just over 83%, up from more than 77% during the same period last year. USPS also said mail takes an average of about 2.5 days to be delivered.
When asked about the reported delays and whether Louisville mail is being rerouted to other processing centers, USPS spokesperson Susan Wright did not directly answer those questions. Instead, she provided the following statement:
"Operations are normal at the Louisville Processing and Distribution Center," the statement said. "The Postal Service will work to address any specific issue when brought to our attention and encourage customers to reach out via our website."
The complaints come as USPS continues to face financial challenges nationally. Since 2007, the Postal Service has lost more than $117 billion, including roughly $9 billion over the past year. Earlier this week, USPS raised the price of a First-Class Forever stamp to 82 cents.
Postmaster General David Steiner recently appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where lawmakers questioned the agency's long-term financial outlook.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the committee, called USPS a "broken business model" and said labor costs — which account for about 80% of USPS expenses — must be addressed to avoid a deeper financial crisis.
McGarvey said he will continue pressing USPS in Louisville to improve its services.
"We are keeping the pressure on them," he said. "They need to have more funding. They need to have more resources at the Louisville post office particularly, as more mail is coming into that post office."
McGarvey also said USPS should be planning ahead for the holiday shipping season and winter weather.
"We're also telling them to anticipate," he said. "...We know bad weather can happen in the winter. Make sure you have what you need so the men and women who are working really hard. There are letter carriers working really hard."
Copyright 2026. WDRB News. All rights reserved.
