The Lakeland Times decided to take matters into its own hands after receiving complaints from readers for not receiving mailed copies of the newspaper.
An April 25, 2025 story by Trevor Greene in the Lakeland Times details how staffers placed air tag global positioning satellite trackers in different editions to find out exactly where the problems in the United States Postal Service delivery process were occurring.
One subscriber based in Florida, who understandably declined to go on record with the Times about their delivery problem, received one of their papers, the Tuesday/Friday, April 1 and 4 edition, on April 17 — and it was no April Fool’s joke.
Why? That was one of the issues that the Times placed a tracking device on, with the subscriber aware of that. Besides numerous stops at different United States Postal Service locations along the way, the tracking device showed two separate hangups.
First being dropped off in Rhinelander, the issue of the newspaper made its way to a Milwaukee bus station, where it sat for more than two days until it was transported to a Milwaukee airport. From there, it spent less than a day in Louisville, Ky. and then to an Orlando airport. From April 9-15, the paper stayed at the Orlando Post Office. On April 16, the paper arrived at Vero Beach Post Office and the subscriber received not only the April 1 and 4 edition of the Times, but also another issue they didn’t receive at all until that point — the March 18 and March 21 edition.
One other subscriber, who also agreed to allow the Times to place a tracking device inside one of their editions, agreed to go on the record with the newspaper. Randy Mayer of Fort Atkinson received his Friday, March 28 edition of the Times on March 29, which is normal. The problem? He received a previous edition he already assumed was never going to come. Mayer still hasn’t received two other March issues that were mailed.
While there was only a one-day delay for that issue, the tracking device illustrated for the Times first-hand the complexity of the USPS mailing system — the March 28 edition left Rhinelander on March 27 and arrived in Green Bay later that night. From there, it went to Milwaukee, then Watertown, then Madison — all within the day of March 28, before arriving at the Fort Atkinson Post Office the next day, March 29.
Mayer said “for years” he received his Friday edition of the Times the next day. Then “all-of-a-sudden” that changed. “How this all started for me was I (hardly got) any issues in March,” he said, adding he contacted the paper as a result and agreed to allow the Times to place a tracking device in one of his next editions. “And so that issue came on Saturday, like I normally get … along with that one with the tracker in it came another issue from the middle of the month, and I still never received the other two issues from March.”
Mayer said he went to the Fort Atkinson Post Office on March 31. He made USPS staff aware one of his papers was tracked . . . and it was not received kindly by the local USPS officials.
“They went kind of ballistic,” Mayer said. “ … You know, they didn’t touch it, they didn’t want it, I wouldn’t have given it to them anyway, but I showed it to them and they said that’s not even legal.”
Times general manager Heather Holmes said in the story that she recalled when periodicals were a priority for the United States Postal Service (USPS), however, it seems as if those days have come and gone. She stressed her frustration with USPS services and the impacts it has had on both newspapers.
“We pay a lot of money to have our papers delivered on time,” Holmes said in the story. “A newspaper sitting in Orlando for six days is ridiculous and very poor service!”
The Lakeland Times and Northwoods River News began delivering newspapers to local post offices in the area two years ago to limit local delays and to prevent the Rhinelander Post Office from shipping the papers to the Green Bay USPS distribution center just to be turned around and shipped back. The story also noted there have been six postal rate increases in the last three years.
Meanwhile, according to the story, USPS made an announcement on March 20 that the federal agency will be making “refinements” to save an estimated $36 billion over the next 10 years. The adjustments, the announcement said, will affect first-class mail, periodicals, marketing mail, package services, priority mail and more. The enhancements are estimated to save USPS at least $36 billion over the next decade through reductions in transportation, mail and package processing and real estate costs, according to USPS.
“The service standards refinement will occur in two phases to ensure effective operational implementation: the first phase will begin April 1,” USPS state in the release. “The second phase will start July 1.”
USPS said in the announcement it already has saved $2.2 billion from cutting annual transportation costs “by streamlining networks and optimizing air and surface options” and saved $2.5 billion by decreasing 50 million hours of work through more productivity and closing unnecessary facilities.
For more information on the “enhanced service standards” promised by USPS, visit https://about.usps.com/what/strategic-plans/delivering-for-america/details.htm#fcps .
