Mail has slowed in recent years, and some lawmakers want to hold the USPS accountable for late delivery of bills. In an announcement last week, three US Representatives (Cleaver, Graves, and Alford) announced the “Pony Up Act,” stating in part:
“Countless complaints have been registered by constituents whose mail hasn’t arrived on time, or at all in some cases. Many of those complaints have involved paying a late fee due to bills being delivered late. Multiple municipal utilities have also complained that their bills aren’t arriving to their customers in a timely manner. The legislation would require USPS to pay any late fees incurred on bills due to delayed delivery service.”
Speaking of his constituents, Congressperson Cleaver said, “Not only is it preventing them from getting timely information, but it is costing them their hard-earned dollars as they face late fees due to delayed delivery on monthly bills.”
The announcement explained how the late fees would work if the bill was passed into law: “The bill would enable anyone who incurred a late fee due to the late delivery of a bill to file a claim for a late fee repayment. Filing for the repayment would occur online through a portal or in person at any post office. The legislation would also require a report on delayed mail, giving Congress relevant and accurate information to identify how effective the Postal Service is and what average delays look like.”
Official text of the Pony Up Act is available on Representative Cleaver’s government website.
Good luck with that, hard enough to get USPS to pay for damage item. Getting them to pay for late fee’s would be a nightmare. I couldn’t even image the forms and documents you’d have to fill out, how to show proof and if the time is worth it.
Its about time lawmakers hold government employees accountable. Letter volume at USPS has to be half of what it was 20 years ago due to online bill pay, and even with more modern mail sorting, they still can’t get the mail out on time? Reports of slow distribution centers in Houston, Bell, CA, and Newark have been around for decades, why are the managers at those locations not publicly fired?
“incurred a late fee due to the late delivery of a bill ”
Bills don’t have tracking. How in the world would you prove that your bill was late? The answer is, you can’t. So every person who is late to pay a bill blames it on the Postal Service, and gets their fee refunded from the Post Office. Adding 10’s of millions to their debt, and moves them one step closer to Privatization.
(Which is the REAL goal, isn’t it?)
@NJSRR- correct, the suits at the top want privatization, there’s nothing like continually raising rates and destroying service to get people (like Shanna) onboard…blaming the employees not the execs who starting ripping apart the USPS from the top down.
*** It’s all about “Automatic Payments”
Automatic payments is now the cheapest and best way for businesses to collect bills. From my personal experiences, I’ve concluded that bills are actually mailed LATE in order for those late fees to occur.
Sure, the Post Office has its issues, however, the best way to convert customers into online payments is to make is stressful and costly for consumers.
I honestly believe, it’s the businesses that are actually mailing bills out late in order to collect those late fees that will pay for the added expense of “paper billing”.
A very stupid bill. How about these politicians go to the USPS Sorting plants/ offices and examine how they are run and talk to the workers in private to see what is wrong and what is needed to fix the issues.