As if there weren't already issues with local mail delivery. A recent round of break-ins have been reported at some northern Minnesota Post Office locations - reigniting concerns about the United Postal Service.

The latest break-in occurred at the Esko Post Office on Tuesday morning. According to our news partners at WDIO-TV, the incident happened during the early morning hours, "resulting in several stolen packages and mail". Additionally, the post office suffered damage to furnishings and equipment.

Law enforcement authorities are currently seeking information and also investigating whether or not the Post Office break-in is connected to similar crimes in the area. Carlton County Sheriff Chief Deputy Dan Danielson explains:

"We have the burglaries, in our county and we're investigating them all to see if there's any ties and relations as we would with any case. If there's an commonalities or modus operandi that is similar and keep an eye out."

In addition to this weeks break-in at the Esko location, the Post Offices in Carlton and Cotton have also experienced similar incidents. Those remain "under investigation".

These most-recent stories come on the heels of problems with local mail deliveries in the Northland. Starting last fall, there were reports about late and inconsistent mail delivery in Superior; a variety of different causes came together to create that situation - including staffing problems, retirements, and even the direction of priorities from the USPS itself.

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Since those reports this fall in Superior, many others circulated around the Christmas holiday. Reports on social media - and the experience of co-workers here at the office - had some people in Superior going more than two weeks without mail delivery - even as their daily Informed Delivery emails showed that they should have been getting mail.

Duluth also had its own problems around the holidays and the end of the year, with reports of three and four hour waits in line at the Post Office there.

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