Missouri Independent: In 2025, almost everyone is online. Overnight shipping, online bill pay and endless streaming services are at our fingertips.

And as technology and society shift to meet those changes, people living in rural Missouri don’t want to be left out of the conversation just because their packages may take more time to arrive.

Under a recent consolidation effort by the U.S. Postal Service, though, rural areas farther away from processing hubs are seeing more reductions in service compared to their urban counterparts, even in areas that haven’t technically seen parts of the plan go into effect yet.

“The mail, it’s awful. Sometimes we don’t even get things that were sent to us,” said Leah Lawson, vice president of the Bank of New Madrid in southeast Missouri.

The bank and its customers rely heavily on mail delivery to pay their bills. But more and more people are getting slapped with late fees because their payments don’t make it on time.

“It’s their light bill or water bill, and if it gets lost it doesn’t matter,” said Lawson. “You’re getting a late fee, because they say it’s your responsibility.”

In late July, USPS cut back on services in 540 — nearly half — of Missouri’s ZIP codes by reducing mail collection from morning and evening to morning-only collection.

It’s part of USPS efforts to cut costs under former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan, which launched in 2021.

During a June Congressional hearing, commercial mailing groups and package shippers pushed for a pause on the plan, citing negative performance impacts and increased costs.

Missourians have noticed the shift.

“Some days you don’t get mail,” Lawson said. “It seems like I’ve gone a whole week without getting anything, then get a whole stack of it in one day.”

Read more: Half of Missouri ZIP codes see postal service cuts under consolidation plan • Missouri Independent