What to know as Rounds seeks investigation of South Dakota mail delays

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds has urged the inspector general for the Postal Service to investigate the "root causes of mail delays" impacting residents across South Dakota.

In a Dec. 9 letter to Tammy Hull , the service's inspector general, Rounds – one of South Dakota's two Republican senators – wrote that he has in recent months heard from "hundreds of constituents" in his state who have had "substantial issues" with mail service.

Rounds wrote that the issues are the result of the "flawed design" of the Postal Service network, which "all but guarantees that mail traveling across or to South Dakota must travel in a circuitous manner through locations around and outside of the state."

"The people of South Dakota depend on the Postal Service for critical communication, medicine and care,”