U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, said in letter Tuesday to USPS Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner that a growing number of constituents have contacted his office “who are experiencing significant delays and other disruptions in mail delivery across the area.”

While he understood delays during the busy holiday season might linger into the new year, this has persisted even three weeks into January, Bergman wrote.

“These delays are preventing the timely delivery of essential, time-sensitive mail. The impacts are particularly acute at the turn of the calendar year, when households and businesses depend on prompt receipt and processing of mailed items that carry firm deadlines, such as utility bills, payments, business licenses, and other financial documents.”

The co-chair of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, Bergman in the letter formally requested USPS review current conditions and provide a detailed report within 30 days outlining when normal service standards will be restored, how mail prioritization is being managed, and what operational factors may be contributing to delays — “including any changes implemented at the Iron Mountain P&DC under USPS’s Delivering For America Plan?”

The USPS announced last February it had canceled earlier plans to shut down local processing and send all outgoing mail to a regional processing center in Green Bay, Wis. But it made other significant changes on routes and mail transport that have affected delivery times, including in early 2024 when USPS cut the number of daily truck trips and collections made by the Kingsford facility — the U.P.’s only Processing and Distribution Center — causing mail to sit overnight in local offices. That change all but eliminated USPS next-day service in the Upper Peninsula and northeastern Wisconsin.

In particular, Bergman pointed out “Constituents also report being told that staffing shortages are limiting delivery capacity. What steps is USPS taking locally to address hiring, training, scheduling and retention needs in these service areas?”

Phone calls to both the Kingsford and Iron Mountain post offices for a response Wednesday went unanswered.

But local reports to The Daily News have been numerous, as the newspaper is delivered through the mail. Some subscribers say they now receive mail only once a week, sometimes on Sundays as their carriers struggle to catch up. Others claim they’ve been advised to pick up their mail at the post office.

The slowdown began before Christmas as carriers were told to focus on delivering packages. That created a backlog that, coupled with staffing shortages, has left some areas with sporadic service, according to reports and customer feedback.

The problem has been most acute on the east and north sides of Iron Mountain; in the Kingsford Heights, Ford Addition and Breitung areas in Kingsford, according to reports. In the past week it spread to Norway as well.