Rural mail woes

PHILIP — At Petersen’s Variety store, there are no less than three signs in the window advertising that residents of Philip can ship, pick up and drop off packages via UPS. The store is just a block away from the town’s post office.

Philip residents may be forgiven for choosing the often more expensive private shipping company over the nation’s postal service: By Molly Wetsch
South Dakota News WatchBy Molly Wetsch
South Dakota News Watch

In early 2024, USPS downgraded a distribution facility in Huron to a local processing-only facility. The service had also initially planned to downsize its Sioux Falls distribution facility but later said that the plan had been paused.

USPS spokesperson Tara Jarrett offered a few details on the impact of those changes in a statement to News Watch.

“Local mail continues to be processed in our Sioux Falls (570-571 ZIP Codes), Dakota Central (572-575 ZIP Codes), and Rapid City (577 ZIP Codes) plants, and that mail does not leave the state for additional processing if it is staying in that region. Mail in the 576 ZIP Codes continues to be served by our Bismarck, ND plant.”

The organization has also recently begun rolling out its reduced service of rural post offices, stopping delivery vehicles at rural sites once a day, rather than twice.

The moves, which are part of USPS’s Delivering for America plan, aimed to “modernize the nation’s aged and neglected postal network.” But for thousands of people across the state, including dozens of local newspaper publishers, that effort has significantly hindered day-to-day life and operations.

Don Ravellette’s family has been publishing papers out of Philip for nearly 50 years through the company Ravellette Publications. The Philip Pioneer Review, the company’s primary imprint, now publishes news from Murdo, Wall, Bison, Kadoka and Faith.

Ravellette said that for the past two years, he’s been having a harder time making sure that news is delivered to subscribers in a timely manner. He’s also chosen to regularly direct employees to drive to Wall to deliver papers.

Ravellette told News Watch he is experiencing more frustration than ever before with the postal service. He said that he feels like decisions are being made at the national level that aren’t considering the needs of rural America.

“They just won’t listen. They just won’t,” he said.

Dave Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association, met with the USPS Inspector General’s office on June 4 to discuss commonly expressed issues with the state’s mailing system. He said the meeting went well and that the office seemed alarmed at publishers’ complaints.

But he expressed concern at the organization’s ability to fix what has already been broken.

“There’s no good news here. It’s all bad news when it comes to the future, in terms of what they’ve done to the system, what it’s costing, where they’re at. And Congress is reluctant to do anything about it,” he said.

Ravellette shared a tracking number for a package received by a rancher near Quinn, in western South Dakota.

The package, which was shipped on July 28, 2025, from Phoenix, was received on Aug. 12, 2025.

The roughly 1,300-mile trip from Phoenix, the package’s original destination, to Quinn turned into a 3,600-mile odyssey under USPS’ care.
USPS maintained in its statement to News Watch that its delivery performance in South Dakota is above average.

“USPS delivery performance in South Dakota is strong. About half of all First-Class Mail is delivered early. In the Sioux Falls area specifically, for the week ending 5/22/26, 92.6% of incoming mail was delivered on time, above our national target of 89%,” Jarrett said.

The organization did not address questions about whether it is aware of issues in rural South Dakota and if there are any plans to speed up service in those areas.

South Dakota U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds told News Watch that he was unsatisfied with notions that the service in South Dakota was up to par.

“I know there’s information out there suggesting that we have good service in South Dakota. I reject that,” Rounds said. “I think the clear evidence is that the mail service is terrible in South Dakota.”
Rounds has previously been vocal about his dissatisfaction with USPS in the state.

In a press release in December 2025, he said the service has “deteriorated to critical levels” in South Dakota. He also said that the Postmaster General David Steiner had “downplayed such issue existed in South Dakota.”

Bordewyk said while conversations with the Inspector General’s office were generally reassuring, newspaper publishers across the state will still have to reckon with the fact that the system may never go back to the way it was.
– and be willing to make changes.

“The question for all of us is, will the postal service decide to walk back these system changes that they made?” Bordewyk said.