The US Postal Service in Missouri is near and dear to my family which is why it pains me to share details of an audit that revealed the state is home to the slowest mail service in America.

My dad was a mail carrier and eventually a window technician for the United States Postal Service in Hannibal, Missouri for more than 30 years. I learned to not ask him questions during the holidays and/or when the price of stamps went up. He was not in a good mood during those times. My point is that I'm not a postal service hater, but I've come across a report that needs to be shared.

It wasn't that long ago when the Office of the Inspector General shared the results of an audit that was made public by Missouri legislators. It was an investigation into why it took so long for mail that went through the Kansas City area. Their report was astonishing:

"We found instances of delayed mail at selected sites throughout the Kansas-Missouri District and identified inaccurate reporting of mail conditions at seven of the 10 selected postal stations and the processing and distribution center."

Oh, and that was a conservative estimate. A newly-updated report from Fox 4 News in Kansas City says those delays were as bad as 13 days.

What will the postal service do about the Kansas City, Missouri slowdowns?

The Office of the Inspector General said the will "implement a plan to hire and retain employees; assess employee absenteeism for common trends and develop a process to reduce truancy; develop and implement a plan to ensure delayed mail is reported daily in the proper systems and monitor the systems for completion".

Will mail delivery in Missouri get better? Time will tell. As the son of a long-time postal worker, I sure hope so.

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