By Marta Schwab Santa Monica
(Editor’s note: This letter was originally addressed to Henry Waxman, United States Congress.) Dear Representative Waxman: I am writing and e-mailing you on behalf of the increasingly frustrated customers of Santa Monica Postal Route 90405-28. On Dec. 21, 2005, you addressed the problems that some of your constituents were having with the U.S. Postal Service in a letter to Postmaster General John Potter. While we appreciate your effort, and understand that many of the problems have been caused by the loss of a sorting facility, my neighbors and I need to let you know that our situation has degraded so badly that we must request your personal intervention. Every person I spoke with has a postal nightmare story to tell, and my plans to enlist your help have been met with unbridled enthusiasm and encouragement. We constantly experience late, misdirected and non-forwarded mail, and receive absolutely no mail delivery at all at least once every two or three weeks.
However, this past week, due to the gross negligence of the Santa Monica station manager, our neighborhood’s mail delivery was completely stopped for two days, and non-resumption of service was wrongly threatened. No one ever notified us that our delivery had been intentionally stopped. Everyone figured it was just another day without mail. I only found out because I contacted the post office myself. The situation, concerning an alleged dog bite, clearly exposed the real problem: The people that run the Santa Monica Post Office. The extraordinary incompetence demonstrated at every level, from clerk to management, has been utterly maddening. Every person that I encountered at the newly-built postal facility seemed either incapable of or not particularly interested in providing any type of service whatsoever.
Straight answers were impossible to obtain. This episode was well-covered by the Santa Monica Lookout. It is also available at http://www.surfsantamonica.com under the April 19 headline “Mail Service Goes to the Dogs” should you prefer to view it online. I am also forwarding letters from some of my neighbors describing their ordeals with post office employees and with our route’s mail service in general After reading the article and these letters, I am sure you will feel compelled to take further action.
We have received absolutely no assistance or satisfaction from anyone, and there’s no end in sight to the unacceptable level of “service” that we are receiving. Employees act as if their salary is an entitlement because they know it is almost impossible to lose their jobs. We get nothing but excuses, lies and misinformation. When we are fortunate enough to have mail delivered, it is rarely before 6 p.m. and occasionally delivered by flashlight-bearing carriers as late as 10 p.m. We routinely get no delivery at all, or some mail the following morning from the previous day’s load and a second-late delivery, rarely brought by the same carrier more than twice a week. On a daily basis, we receive mail for others, often with our number but the wrong street. We even received a greeting card addressed to someone in Illinois — yes, Illinois — that we marked “return to sender,” but ended up back in our mailbox three times. Mail is never forwarded when someone moves, vacation holds don’t happen and mail is often missing or stolen. It’s time for someone to take action.
We are asking you to launch an investigation into the events of April 12-13, 2006, including a full review of all the policies and procedures that led to this unwarranted and unannounced two-day stoppage of our entire neighborhood’s mail delivery, and a complete review of employees’ training, attitude and conduct. We demand to be treated with courtesy, respect and dignity by competent clerks, carriers and supervisors who are willing to do their jobs, and we expect our mail to be delivered in a timely manner to the correct address each and every mailing day. We will not accept, and we do not deserve anything less. The Santa Monica Post Office is an embarrassment to the USPS, and they simply don’t care. Will you please help us?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 3, 2006. Read the original PDF.