GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Senator Gary Peters - (D) Michigan demands transparency from the United States Postal Service (USPS).
"All we need are answers," says Peters. "Without answers, its hard for us to figure out exactly what's happening."
After launching an investigation into the USPS delays and operational changes earlier this month, the senator still doesn't feel like hes being cooperated with.
To get a better look at the system, he took a tour of the Patterson Avenue USPS processing facility on Tuesday. This facility is the same one that made national headlines for dismantled equipment.
"The folks I talked to today admitted there are those delays," says Peters.
Delays President Amy Puhalski of the American Postal Workers Union Local 281 says are caused in part by a new tightened truck schedule.
"A directive was put out for no late trucks," says Puhalski. "The mail gets processed and it has to be on the truck, so if the mail is there behind, which it is, then it sits there until the next day when the truck goes out."
Beth Nolan, has felt those delays firsthand. Her company, Positive Approach to Care, trains people who work with dementia patients and relies on the postal service to get out its education materials.
"Two to three day mail is taking four, six, ten, 12 days to get across the country," says Nolan. "That is not something a small business can handle. If we chose to go into priority mail to do overnight, we'd be talking about not doubling but tripling our costs."
While some lawmakers have called the investigation a waste of time, Senator Peters says this is a non-partisan issue that impacts millions.
"I know there are some folks out there that say this is not real," says Peters. "I just say tell that to the nearly eight thousand people who have contacted my office about the impact they have."
Peters says his investigation is ongoing, and vowed to present his findings to the public in real time for total transparency.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.