Douglas Stephens Sr.

USPS District Manager, Dakotas

In response to the May 19 letter to the editor, “Mail Delivery Needs Improvement,” I am in agreement. We are always looking for ways to continually improve our service. We sponsor media open houses, customer forums, service improvement teams and projects dedicated to continuous improvement. We never stop at listening and responding so we can better serve you, our customers.

North Dakota is unique, with our communities often separated by long roads subject to weather and other challenges. But just because we are remote doesn’t mean we are forgotten. In fact, North Dakota has some of the best mail service in the nation. It’s all because of our remarkable employees and our eye on quality. We aren’t perfect, but when we do fail we will vigorously work to identify the issue and ensure the chance of a reoccurrence is significantly reduced.

Processing Minot’s 8,000 local letters a day would require significant infrastructure updates, including a new facility and millions of dollars in sorting equipment with enhanced security measures. Because of organizational fiscal constraints driven by declining revenue and reduced demand especially for our letter mail product line, the Postal Service is not in a position to do this. Like airlines, trucking companies and other transportation entities, we use a hub-and-spoke system of delivery for efficiency. Bismarck’s state-of-the-art equipment efficiently handles the region’s mail. This allows all the local mail to be delivered within just a couple of days.

Successfully delivering your mail cannot be done without our amazing employees. They are your neighbors, your friends and fellow members of the community. As an organization, we proudly stand by them and appreciate the words of support our team continually hears about their work. We’ve been the part of your local community since the very beginning and we are proud to continue to help connect Minot to the state, the nation and the world.