Apparently Santa Monicans aren’t the only ones getting the runaround from the postal service. Congressman Henry Waxman (D- Los Angeles) has been pressuring the United Postal Service since December to fix the delays in mail deliveries. But his efforts have so far been in vain — minimal improvement has been made, despite USPS officials saying the problem has been fixed.
In response to numerous complaints from his constituents, Waxman wrote a letter earlier this month to the USPS’inspector general asking him to conduct an investigation as to why mail delivery in Santa Monica is so slow. He also called on the USPS to come up with solutions to rectify poor mail service.
The problem was supposed to be solved by hiring more postal workers to help sort the mail and get it to carriers quicker. Post offices in Santa Monica were consolidated and mail routes were realigned. Those actions have reduced some complaints but there are still people who are not getting their mail.
The problem may boil down to one carrier in the Sunset Park neighborhood who apparently is being dealt with. Talk about one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch.
Just the other day a resident lamented (SMDP,Aug. 23, page 4) that her son missed out on attending the school of engineering at Vanderbillt University because the priority package announcing his acceptance — postmarked on March 23 — showed up in her mailbox on Aug. 21. The parent had just returned home from delivering her son to UC Berkeley.
That same parent said that another college acceptance letter had been delivered a few months ago to the wrong address. Fortunately, her neighbors brought the letter to her front doorstep.
We agree with her that there are many important documents that the post office should deliver reliably and in a timely manner. It is a basic community service and we shouldn’t have to rely upon Fed-Ex for it.
The USPS needs to reign in its personnel issues and get back to the task at hand: Delivering the mail on time. Our lives depend upon it.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 25, 2006. Read the original PDF.