An elderly Texas man says his heart medication has remained at a Postal Service processing facility for more than a week due to delays in mail delivery affecting residents of many U.S. states.
In an interview with local news affiliate KHOU, 82-year-old Don White said he hoped to receive his medication Monday and noted that he had never experienced an inability to receive the drugs from the post office if he was in possession of a tracking number.
“There have been a few times in which it’s taken a week, week and a half, two weeks, but this is the first time I actually ran out and checking with the post office didn’t do much good, even though I had a tracking number on it,” White told KHOU.
Because of the delays, White says he has gone without the medicine for a week and has had to rely on over-the-counter solutions from local drugstores.
The Postal Service blamed delays on the coronavirus pandemic as well as years-old financial problems in a lengthy statement obtained by the news station.
“The Postal Service is flexing its available resources to match the workload created by the impacts of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We appreciate the patience of our customers and apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced. We also appreciate the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis,” said the Postal Service in part.
Residents of numerous cities and counties have reported delays in mail delivery in recent weeks amid Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s efforts to reorganize the service and cut costs. In Philadelphia, mail carriers have reported extreme levels of under-staffing and mail piling up in processing centers.
Staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs have also reported delays in veterans receiving medicine through the Postal Service.
President Trump has indicated in recent days that his resistance to increased funding for the Postal Service stems from Democrats’ calls for universal mail-in voting in November. Trump has repeatedly said that more mail-in voting could lead to increased voter fraud, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.