Approximately 2.7 million state agency letters were never mailed to Pennsylvania residents last month, officials say
The massive amount of mail from state agencies, including PennDot and the Department of Human Services, was never actually sent to residents by an outside vendor. The state didn’t notice for a month.
HARRISBURG — Approximately 2.7 million pieces of state agency mail never reached Pennsylvania residents last month after a state-contracted vendor failed to send them, affecting outgoing correspondence from the state Department of Human Services and the Department of Transportation, officials said Tuesday.
From Nov. 3 through Dec. 3, officials said, the affected state agency mail was never presorted and delivered by the vendor to the U.S. Postal Service, resulting in a backlog of millions of unsent state communications.
Late last week, Pennsylvania state officials discovered that a month’s worth of mail had never been sent to residents by the outside vendor, Harrisburg-based Capitol Presort Services LLC. Once the issue was discovered, the state fired the vendor for failing to fulfill its contract and hired another vendor to work through the backlog.
The state Department of Human Services, which oversees the care of the state’s most vulnerable residents and children, is still determining “the exact volume and categories of delayed mail,” said Paul Vezzetti, a spokesperson for the state Department of General Services. However, DHS was able to confirm that some services were not interrupted: residents waiting on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards for receiving food assistance, mail sent by county assistance offices, and notices about suspended benefits during the federal government shutdown were not affected, Vezzetti added.
PennDot driver’s license and vehicle registration renewal invitations, driver’s license camera cards, vehicle registration cards, and address update cards are all among the routine correspondences that were never sent to residents over the last month, Vezzetti said. Driver’s license suspensions were not impacted by the stalled mail.
It was not clear on Tuesday which other state agencies’ mail had been impacted by the lapse in service.
All of the recently discovered unsent state agency mail was transported to USPS on Monday by the state’s new vendor and will be promptly delivered to residents by the Postal Service, officials said. PennDot customers should receive any expected mail from the time period of Nov. 3 to Dec. 3 within the next 7-10 days, Vezzetti added.
On Friday, the state secured a $1 million emergency contract with another mail presorting company, Pitney Bowes, to handle the multimillion-letter backlog.
The state had contracted with Capitol Presort Services since May 1, 2021. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2022, but had continued its work for the state until last week, when the agency mail pileup was uncovered.
It remained unclear Tuesday why it took a full month for officials to determine that 2.7 million pieces of state agency mail had not been reaching residents. It was also unclear how the issue was discovered by officials last week.
The unsent mail may prove to be a major headache for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration, depending on which state communications were not delivered to residents. The backlog could include critical correspondence relating to state services, such as health benefits or food assistance, among others.
State agencies regularly send communications by mail about an individual’s eligibility for services or benefits, renewals and appeals, and whether a person is due to appear at a hearing about that eligibility, and more.
“Agencies across the Commonwealth continue to evaluate any potential negative effects of this mail delay and are taking proactive steps to mitigate potential impacts on Pennsylvanians,” Vezzetti added.
A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro declined to comment.
According to the state’s contract with Capitol Presort Services from 2021, the vendor was responsible for delivering more than 16 million pieces of state agency mail each year. Almost all of this mail was to be for the delivery of the state’s First Class and Next-Day mail, which are among the U.S. Postal Services’ fastest delivery options.
Philip Gray, the president and owner of Capitol Presort Services, did not immediately respond to questions about his company’s bankruptcy and how the backlog of mail came about.
Capitol Presort Services advertises itself as a way for “companies to maximize postal discounts while improving their mail delivery,” according to its website. Mail presorting allows organizations to prepare mail with the proper bar codes and trays needed for easy delivery by USPS, which USPS offers to companies at a discounted rate.