Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A Springfield roundtable Monday took on the problems of mail delivery in central and southern Illinois.

That’s the area represented by U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Springfield), who convened the discussion at Lincoln Land Community College.

Issues included labor. Chad Ludwig of the National Association of Letter Carriers and Pam Shumard of the Illinois Rural Letter Carriers Association were two of the panelists.

Ludwig: “Staffing is the Number One problem. We can’t get over the hump. As soon as people get in the door, they get beat to death with 11 1/2-hour days, six or seven days in a row.”

Shumard: “That’s a problem. They want to go part-time. There is no part-time at the post office. You are going seven days in a row. Sometimes 60-80 hours (a week). Who wants that? People are going to just quit.”

In Budzinski’s district, 59 percent of the mail is considered on-time. Another union official said with proper staffing, that number would be 93.

Budzinski told reporters afterward the biggest issue to her is preserving distribution centers in such cities as Champaign and Springfield.