Senator Heitkamp has been leading the fight to improve and protect mail delivery and service in rural communities so that everyone in North Dakota – whether they live in a rural area, small town, or a city – can count on a reliable U.S. Postal Service. Senator Heitkamp has made fighting for rural America one of her top priorities in the U.S. Senate, and she understands the importance of efficient mail delivery and service in helping rural communities, families, and businesses receive everything from newspapers to lifesaving prescription drugs. 

Fix My Mail

In 2014, Heitkamp launched her y Fix My Mail initiative, a grassroots effort to help North Dakotans have their voices heard about problems with delayed mail delivery and service. More than 200 North Dakotans shared their stories about problems with extensive mail delivery times or other problems with their postal service. Senator Heitkamp also added a Fix My Mail survey to get details from North Dakotans about their problems with mail delivery and service, and over 700 North Dakotans have filled it out to date. These stories and feedback have helped shape Senator Heitkamp’s efforts to call for changes to mail delivery in North Dakota and rural communities, both legislatively and on the ground.

As a result of that feedback from North Dakotans, Senator Heitkamp brought the U.S. Postmaster General to North Dakota in August 2016 to see the state’s mail challenges up close and to discuss solutions for the unacceptable service issues facing the state.

If you’re having trouble with mail delivery or service performance, Senator Heitkamp wants to hear from you. Please complete the survey or submit your story to join the hundreds of North Dakotans who have already participated. The details you share and personal information will be kept secure and confidential.

Protecting Rural Delivery

Senator Heitkamp is fighting so that Congress and the U.S. Postal Service don’t leave rural mail concerns communities behind. Senator Heitkamp brought together the first bipartisan meeting of solely rural-state U.S. senators in 2015 to meet with U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan about the impacts of mail processing facility closures and service standard reductions, and secured a commitment from the Postal Service to work better to meet the needs of rural America. Senator Heitkamp has been working hard since then to build strong relationships on this issue with members on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate, as well as with the postal stakeholder community.  

And in 2018, Senator Heitkamp introduced her bipartisan bill to improve U.S. Postal Service operations, service, and transparency. Her Postal Service Reform Act would put the Postal Service — which processes and delivers nearly half of the world’s mail without using any taxpayer dollars to operate — on a path to financial stability and help prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout of the agency. Her bill would also prioritize strong service reforms that put the postal customer first by improving mail service performance across the country while also requiring transparency and enforcement to ensure the Postal Service’s accountability.

Pressing the U.S. Postal Service

Senator Heitkamp has consistently used the information she has learned from her Fix My Mail initiative and other outreach to North Dakotans to get the U.S. Postal Service to make critical service improvements. After sharing North Dakotans’ frustrations with the U.S. Postal Service from her Fix My Mail initiative, Senator Heitkamp successfully received commitments from the agency to improve mail service and delivery throughout the state, including keeping more hours of operation at 30 rural post offices in North Dakota. In addition, Senator Heitkamp resolved mail mix-up issues in a South Fargo neighborhood in 2016 and also strongly pushed for the reopening of the Halliday Post Office in 2017.