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ST. LOUIS — Processing “inefficienciesâ€� and insufficient management oversight are among factors that have spurred mail delivery delays in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ area, according to a newly-released audit of U.S. Postal Service operations here.

The audit, by the postal service’s inspector general, also cited employee vacancies and lagging employee availability rates at some facilities here. That data is related to absenteeism.

The report, which was issued Monday, spurred U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Town and Country, to call for the immediate firings of “those in charge� here.

“The utter mismanagement of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ area postal facilities has been a stain on our region that has severely impacted Missourians for too long,â€� Wagner said Wednesday in a statement.

Wagner, who was among several area lawmakers to call for an audit, said “now that I have seen the results, it’s clear the problem is worse than we ever thought.�

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro, Illinois, Republican who represents part of the Metro East area, also weighed in, saying “the simmering frustrations of people of my district have been validated’’ by the report.

Every other federal legislator representing parts of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ region, both Republicans and Democrats, also has complained about mail delivery in recent years.

The report focused on regional Postal Service distribution facilities in downtown ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and Hazelwood and seven post offices and stations in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, Clayton, Creve Coeur, Ballwin, St. Charles and O’Fallon, Missouri. The audit cited “delayed mailâ€� deficiencies at each of the seven.

During a visit on June 3-4 to the downtown facility, which processes letters, registered mail and other items, auditors estimated that there were more than 2.5 million delayed pieces of mail.

That was the largest delayed mail volume since the inspector general’s field operations reviews began in 2021, the office said on social media.

The audit of the downtown center also said letter processing between Feb. 1 and April 30 didn’t meet the targeted clearance time on 39 of 75 days. During auditors’ visit the week of June 2, letter processing went past the clearance time target on 2 of 5 days.

The Hazelwood center, which handles packages, went past the processing clearance time target on 29 of 89 days studied.

During the week of May 14, the audit said, the downtown center had 145 vacancies, although management had recently been authorized to hire 100 mail handlers and clerks and was in the process of posting and hiring for those jobs.

The audit also said some facilities here had “employee availability� rates that fell below Postal Service goals.

The audit said employee availability data compares straight work hours to the work hours that would have been recorded if all employees reported to work as scheduled.

For example, the downtown facility had 85% employee availability for processing, below the 89% Postal Service goal.

The inspector general’s office didn’t respond Thursday to a request for additional information on what the data represents.

The audit also said “management was not holding the employees accountable for unscheduled absences,� the report said, and that managers described such absences “as a regular occurrence.�

The audit also complained that supervisors at the downtown facility weren’t addressing employees who weren’t “actively engaged in work� or following workplace rules.

The report said auditors observed employees and a supervisor in the automation equipment section talking and not performing work tasks. Auditors also saw “multiple employees� using their cell phones while on the workroom floor.

Bost noted that the report also cited inefficient sorting, lack of proper mail labeling, inadequate machine maintenance and other issues.

The audit report included responses from Postal Service management, who said they would take steps to make various recommended changes.

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