U.S. Congressman Ed Case led an effort that highlighted problems with mail delivery to Hawai‘i and U.S. territories, prompting the United States Postal Service (USPS) to undertake corrective actions that “will improve the timely and accurate processing and transportation of mail that is designed for deliver in areas outside the 48 contiguous states.”

The move by the USPS came after Case initiated a bipartisan letter cosigned by several of his U.S. House colleagues to Postmaster General David Steiner expressing concern over what they referred to as “persistent delays and service disruptions” with the United States Postal Service (USPS) Ground Advantage service to noncontiguous areas of the country, including the Pacific and Caribbean.

The shipping option, launched two years ago, was intended to offer a more simplified and more affordable and expedited delivery service for packages up to 70 pounds. However, it has been plagued by delivery delays and tracking inaccuracies.

Joining Case on his letter to the USPS Postmaster were Congresswomen Jill Tokuda, Kimberlyn KingHinds, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, Stacey E. Plaskett and Congressman James Moylan.

In their letter, Case and his House colleagues said: “These significant delays are first patently unfair to our noncontiguous areas. They also create several practical problems for both consumers and businesses, especially when return windows have already expired by the time packages finally arrive.  “In response to the reliability problems with Ground Advantage, some sellers have opted to offer Priority Mail at an additional fee to guarantee timely delivery. This defeats the purpose of Ground Advantage, which was designed to provide a more affordable shipping alternative.”

In response to the letter from Case and his House colleagues, the USPS undertook a review which “found that some offshore destinating mail with a service standard requiring air transportation was incorrectly transported by sea. Specifically, the review determined that some Priority Mail items and lightweight Ground Advantage packages were improperly placed in mail containers for sea transportation.” The USPS response continued: “To correct these errors, headquarters officials instructed management at relevant processing facilities to validate package processing flows to ensure parcels destinating to offshore locations are correctly transported. “Specifically, these processing facilities have been instructed to validate and certify procedures for combining lightweight Ground Advantage items with Priority Mail items for air transportation to offshore destinations.” The USPS apologized for the delays and recognized that Hawai‘i and the U.S. territories “rely on the Postal Service for efficient and effective service. It is always our goal to meet their expectations, and it is disappointing to us when we fail to do so.”