Trump isn’t Making America Great; he’s just making the mail late.
So says Senator Marion Michael Rounds in a grouchy open letter to Postmaster General David Steiner:
…In recent weeks, I have heard from hundreds of constituents across South Dakota voicing substantial issues with USPS service in my state. These issues are caused by the flawed design of the USPS network, which all but guarantees that mail traveling across or to South Dakota must travel in a circuitous manner through locations around and outside of the state. The result is that mail in South Dakota is delivered well outside of acceptable standards. These delays are worsened by implementation of transportation optimization schemes, which have caused USPS to deliver dozens of local newspapers late.
I have also heard of significant delays from veterans who depend on USPS for vital medications. USPS delays also mean that by the time a veteran’s Community Care Network appointment letter arrives, the appointment date has already passed and results in a missed appointment. Furthermore, a leading private sector regional health care system told me that by the time some delayed medications arrived, they could no longer be used. They also told me that those issues had become persistent and at times reached the “point of jeopardizing patient care.”
Feedback from my constituents is clear: USPS service has significantly declined across South Dakota. It is therefore clear to me that USPS’s operational changes are failing South Dakota and do not comply with USPS obligations for universal service under federal law.
I ask that you immediately investigate these concerns and begin work to make all changes necessary to restore reliable mail service to South Dakota. Within the next seven days, I request a meeting to discuss these issues with you and proposed solutions.
P.S. I am emailing this to you because if I mailed it, you might not receive this letter in time [Senator M. Michael Rounds, letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, reprinted in Watertown Current, 2025.09.18].
Sure, Mike. Vote for the guy who wants to dismantle the United States Postal Service, then complain when he follows through. Late papers, late meds, on more vital public service lost in rural America—you’re getting exactly what you voted for.
Unless one is a prepper living off grid, no cell, no internet, there is no need for mail delivery anymore. 99% of letters and legal docs (aka DocuSign et al) could be electronic. Most of my mail is junk. The USPS could still deliver packages and that occasional paper document as if it were a package.
Rounds abidicated control over federal law to Trump. It’s only a “law” if Trump says it is. Yes, he still loses court battles, but if he decided to ignore any and all rulings right now, I’m not sure who would be willing and/or able to stop him.
oh, sx , you may just remind me of what you “stand” for!?
big story, btw. how did Rounds’ luke warm support of Trump the moron, impact the USPS slo-mo train wreck Trump initiated his 1st term? Hypocritically, if i remember.
tip of the iceberg. We know, i think (Draining Oceans “docu”) a very small amount of damage to the Titanic was what sunk it. Trump is the berg. GOP is the ice cap. Billionaires swill warming rising seas.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-biden-signal-emerging-fight-future-postal-service-rcna184451
A member of the GOP, the party that holds a Majority in both houses and holds the presidency (and the Supreme Court majority) is complaining about something not working?
Mike, you are in control of all that. Write a law, pass it, and MAKE mail better!
I, or any other blog poster here, can write a pissy letter that means nothing. Do your job.
He doesn’t have the courage to criticize Trump, but he wants SD voters to think he’s doing his job. I think it’s time to all focus on what’s really happening in this country. Trump and company are taking a wrecking ball to everything this country stands for and Thune and Rounds are helping them
My rural mail carrier stops azt my mailbox everyday whether he has anything for me or not. I asked him wy an d he says it is a new rule he has to stop at every mailbox every day and he as to carry some GPS device that records his route and his stops in real time. That ain’t speeding things up and saving the P>O> any money.
Hi, Leslie. Missed you.
I thought DeJoy, the last Trump appointee, was a supposed “efficiency expert.” He started by dismantling sorting machines, and what do you know. Efficiency went down. Hmmmm. Have Senator Mikey call up Big Balls. Wasn’t BB the one that helped Elon cut gov’t waste and make it more efficient? :-)