On-time delivery plunges at U.S. Postal Service, with 1 in 5 pieces of mail arriving late
CBSN
The U.S. Postal Service's delivery stumbles drew scrutiny last year when an influx of election mail and operational changes caused service to deteriorate. Yet while the crush of ballots has passed, those woes have only worsened: 1 in 5 pieces of mail across the U.S. was delivered late to households and businesses in the first three months of 2021, according to postal agency data.
Roughly 78% of first-class mail was delivered on time in the first quarter, down from more than 92% of first-class mail delivered on time in the year-ago period, postal service chief technology officer Scott Bombaugh said at a USPS Board of Governors meeting on Friday. That performance decline is concerning, said Paul Steidler, a senior fellow with the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank based in Arlington, Virginia, and expert on the USPS. Slower mail delivery means individuals and businesses can face delays in both outgoing and incoming mail — a particular issue for people mailing rent checks, making or awaiting payments, and awaiting important documents to arrive in their post boxes.A cybercriminal group claims it stole personal data belonging to more than 500 million Ticketmaster customers. Although the event ticketing service, owned by Live Nation Entertainment, hasn't confirmed the attack, security experts warn that it could put users of the platform at risk for a range of scams.
Two climbers were waiting to be rescued near the peak of Denali, a colossal mountain that towers over miles of vast tundra in southern Alaska, officials said Wednesday. Originally part of a three-person team that became stranded near the top of the mountain, the climbers put out a distress call more than 30 hours earlier suggesting they were hypothermic and unable to descend on their own, according to the National Park Service.