We answered a phone call recently from a reader who received a bill in the mail two weeks after it was due to be paid.

Delayed delivery of mail has been a nationwide problem for months. The United States Postal Service has been struggling since the holiday mailing season.

Presents, bill payments and letters are taking weeks to be delivered.

Part of the problem was the pandemic, as people increasingly relied on the mail for needed supplies at a time when thousands of postal workers were sidelined by the coronavirus.

But there have been justifiable questions about USPS leadership.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who assumed that post in June, ended employee overtime, ordered high-speed high-volume mail-sorting machines removed from postal facilities and overhauled the agency’s leadership. He claims these cost-cutting measures were necessary to balance the USPS books.

Those changes came during a pandemic, when more people than ever were worried about how to have essential supplies, including food and medicine, delivered to their homes. And it came on the eve of an election dependent on mail-in balloting to protect public health.

The USPS, which traces its roots to 1775 when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general, has been struggling with money issues for years.

It has lost $69 billion during the past 11 fiscal years, including $8.8 billion in fiscal 2019, more than doubling its losses from the previous year.

Some say a national shift to email and texting has diminished the need for the postal service.

Some say the institution isn’t needed in an era when most people rely on email, texts and online financial dealings. That may be true for people with adequate resources and reliable internet.

But the centuries-old institution remains a lifeline for millions of Americans. It processes and delivers more than 472 million pieces of mail daily, and many Americans need its services.

In a digital age, the postal service needs new thinking about how to better serve its customers.

Now Congress must tackle the problems with the USPS, which is projected to run out of money later this year and likely will need federal support to avoid layoffs and further disruption of services. Those funds must be allocated if they are required but should be coupled with reforms about how the postal service operates.

The priority should be to shore up and improve USPS so that this essential service can continue to serve the many Americans who need it.

Raising the price of a stamp a few pennies won’t put a dent in this problem.

— JGG