The old adage that “neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet” stops the mail from being delivered doesn’t apply here in Santa Monica. And we hardly have any rain.
Since last year, the repeated delays in our mail delivery system have proven more than a little inconvenient. Postal officials claim they’ve fixed the problems — yet that check that was supposed to be in mail still hasn’t shown up. And when it eventually does, it’s typically back in the mailbox of the sender.
A Christmas card sent to a Daily Press staffer finally made its way back to the sender just a few weeks ago. A package recently sent from Minneapolis took four and a half weeks to arrive in a mailbox in the 90405 zip code. The Pony Express would have beat this system by 20 furlongs.
And if not receiving mail isn’t infuriating enough, the message from officials that everything is A-OK makes you want to go postal on someone. In response to resident complaints, the U.S. Postal Service made some changes to increase its efficiency late last year. And now, supposedly hiring more employees, “realigning postal routes” and consolidating post offices in Santa Monica has eliminated the problem.
Really? Tell that to the residents of Sunset Park who were so frustrated by the snail’s-paced delivery and a recent stoppage because of a postman-versus-dog incident that they asked U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) to intervene. Waxman told the Daily Press last week that he is aggressively working on the delay and said he met with postmaster general John E. Potter to discuss issues specific to Santa Monica.
That’s exactly what Santa Monica postal managers need — some heat from the top — if anything is ever going to be resolved. They’ve had several months to fix the solution and haven’t. What’s even worse is that they are in denial about it — they believe there is no problem.
Larry Dozier, U.S. Postal Service spokesman, said things have “gotten under control” and “things are running smoothly now.” He added that there was a slight “learning curve” that needed to happen when the post office moved the Marina del Rey mail sorting center to the main office in South Los Angeles. But Dozier admitted the closing of the Marina del Rey facility had nothing to do with late mail delivery.
Residents are to blame partially for Dozier’s delusion. Complaints have dropped from 25 per day to about four per day, despite the persisting problems. If letters aren’t showing up in Santa Monica mailboxes, residents are encouraged to call (800) 275-8777. A representative will take callers’ complaints and send them to the local post office. From there, we can only hope the postmaster cares enough to act quickly.
We agree with Santa Monica residents and have also grown tired of the U.S. Postal Service’s excuses. We want action. More importantly, we want our mail.
The U.S. Postal Service ought to have stricter screening processes to ensure that it is getting high quality employees who care enough and understand how important their jobs are. There should be a higher level of integrity among postal workers, especially because what they do is so vital to the city.
We understand there is a lot of pressure facing postal workers — 6 million pieces of mail are sorted daily at the South Los Angeles sorting center. But we’ve got our pressures, too. Some of us rely on our mail more than others — like the elderly who need their Social Security checks. For some, it is a matter of eating at the end of the month.
The first pieces of mail delivered by the Pony Express, which was considered a major advancement for the U.S Postal Service, took 10 1/2 days. The fastest mail delivery on record for the Pony Express was in March 1861, when President Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address was carried in seven days and 17 hours.
Maybe Santa Monica can beat that record one day.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 12, 2006. Read the original PDF.