Business & Tech

D.C. Area Ranks Worst in the Nation for Late Mail Delivery

Mail is delivered after 5 p.m. in the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia more than anywhere else in the nation, according to an investigative report released Tuesday by the U.S. Postal Service.

An investigative report released Tuesday by the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General David Williams found that the D.C. region ranks worst in the nation for late mail delivery. 

More than two-thirds of the time, mail is delivered after 5 p.m. to residents and businesses in the District and in the Maryland suburbs, The Washington Post reports. Auditors found Northern Virginia ranked in the top five areas of the United States receiving mail late, where 69 percent of letter carriers are still delivering mail after nightfall in 2013. 

Both fared far worse than the national average for late deliveries, which stands at 38 percent.

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The investigation into late deliveries started after a carrier in Prince George’s County was shot in his truck at 7:30 p.m. in November. Authorities have not made any arrests in the killing of Tyson Jerome Barnette, 26, who was reportedly relieving full-time coworkers of excess workloads on an unfamiliar route the day he was killed, The Post reports.

“Each day some carriers deliver mail to locations that could be considered unsafe and deliveries late in the day can exacerbate potential dangers,” the inspector general wrote in a statement.

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The inspector general also found the yearly cost of overtime for carriers out past 5 p.m. in the Capital District is $4.5 million. 


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