STANDISH, Maine — Tom Childs goes to the end of his driveway in his motorized wheelchair every day to get the mail.
Often times he is looking for a package of supplements he says help dramatically curb the pain caused by his ALS.
"The supplements I take are designed to reduce the overall glutamate in the muscular twitching and excruciating cramps," Childs said using an iPad to speak.
Recently those supplements were delayed due to changes at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). A package that is often delivered within three to four days took eight days, leaving him without any supplements for days.
"It was the most painful time I've had during this experience," he said.
Childs is one of the hundreds of Mainers impacted by the changes made to USPS processing facilities across the county, including the removal of two sorting machines from Maine's largest processing plant in Scarborough.
Maine Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said her office recently conducted a survey of more than 2,000 constituents.
It found 64 percent of respondents experienced mail delays or knew someone who has; 82 percent said they have paid bills via USPS; 55 percent said they have voted or plan to vote by mail; and 40 percent said they received medication using USPS.
"People are just shocked. The postal service has been around since before The Constitution," Pingree told NEWS CENTER Maine.
Despite the USPS pausing changes until after Election Day, Pingree and at least 90 other Democrats are calling for the removal of controversial Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
The National Postal Workers Union, including members in Maine, are also calling for his removal.
The House has passed at least three pieces of legislation to deliver more funding and reverse the recent changes to the Postal Service, but the Senate has yet to take any action.
"We didn't have this problem a year ago. We feel like this has been created by the administration, they're denying that it exists," Pingree said. "Yet we're hearing from an unprecedented number of people that this is a problem."
Pingree said she is hopeful Republicans and Democrats will come together when Congress is back in session after Labor Day to pass bills that will preserve the USPS.
For those like Childs, who fear delays could happen again, it is frustrating little has been done.
"The postal service is being used as a political pawn," Childs said. "I'm anxious about the future for myself and so many others."
Postmaster General DeJoy sent a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Monday ensuring that service has improved.
“As I testified, the intervening service declines should not have happened, but the changes are fundamental and necessary, and the Postal Service is strongly committed to fixing the problems by identifying and rectifying their root causes," DeJoy wrote. "I am confident that the Postal Service’s performance will continue to improve overall, and that it will ultimately exceed our prior service performance levels."