Las Vegas NowI-Team: Postal Service Using Private Contractors

I-Team: Postal Service Using Private Contractors

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night is part of the unofficial motto used to used to describe the job of U.S. postal workers in getting mail delivered. In the past, mail was almost always delivered by postal workers, but recently the post office is using private contractors.

The use of contract carriers is nothing new but the practice once reserved for rural areas is now common in the Las Vegas valley and the letter carriers union believes it puts jobs and the security of your mail at risk.

Mark King and Diana McCurdy are two letter carriers but have two different employers. King works for the United States Postal Service while McCurdy works for a private contractor.

McCurdy, like King, begins her shift at the post office by bundling the mail and then delivering it along her route.  Jokes about junk mail aside, postal service employees and private contractors have little else in common. King earns a union wage with benefits and McCurdy doesn't. Though we can't tell you how much she makes, her job is all about saving money. McCurdy's boss was likely the low bidder on the contract for her route.

According to the postal service, there are 50 such routes in Southern Nevada. A cost-cutting strategy the letter carriers union calls cutting corners.

"There's no real accountability for the contractors once they get the contract. There's no real accountability on who's delivering the mail," said Glenn Norton, National Association of Letter Carriers.

The postal service insists contract carriers undergo a rigorous screening process however several high profile arrests nationwide suggest it's not fool proof. Contract employees in other states have been accused of stealing, trashing and even burning and burying the mail.

Though the I-Team is not aware of any arrests locally, the union argues the threat is real.

"Fly-by-night contractors and subcontractors, you don't know how long they're going to be there, they don't have a vested interest in delivering the mail and keeping the public trust," Norton said.

In one neighborhood, the I-Team spotted two contract employees without uniforms or visible identification. Carriers like King worry that it reflects badly on the profession.

"If you've got someone in civilian cloths opening up a mailbox, you don't know what they're doing, it's kind of confusing for the public," King said. But McCurdy, like King, seems to follow postal service policy to the letter.

The letter carriers union recently negotiated a new contract. It includes a six-month moratorium on any new contracts in post offices where city carriers work, like Las Vegas. There will also be a task force to examine the practice.

E-mail your comments to investigative reporter Colleen McCarty.