Letter to Editor: Letter Carrier Voices Serious Concerns

-Courtesy Photo

I am a letter carrier for a San Gabriel Valley city that your paper serves. I would like to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from my management.

You did a story a year or so ago about the backlash given to the Arcadia Post Office after its Postmaster decided to move their boxes on Santa Clara Avenue, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with where they were located originally. Within a week or two after your story was published, the boxes were moved back to its original place, proving that the power of a story can make a difference.

The letter follows:

Dear Editor:

For the third time this year alone, the starting times for your US Postal Letter Carrier has once again been moved 30 minutes later. It has gone from a 7a.m. starting time to a 7:30 a.m. starting time to an 8 a.m. starting time to a now 8:30 a.m. starting time (for most offices, with more to follow).

The Santa Clarita District (which many of the San Gabriel Valley Post Offices are part of) is being run by a District Manager who has done a completely horrific job in getting all mail out of its processing center “ON TIME” and into the many Post Offices throughout the San Gabriel Valley “ON TIME.” This manager has decided that the best solution to this problem is to make its couple of thousands of Letter Carriers throughout the San Gabriel Valley come in at a later starting time … again and again and again.

So what does this latest new starting time mean to you, the customer?

For the business customer, this means another 30 minutes of waiting for those always important pieces of mail that your business heavily relies on first thing in the morning. There was once a time when the Post Office made it mandatory for every business customer to have their mail in their hands by 1pm at the latest. Gone now are those days of “Customer Satisfaction.”

As for the residential customer, this also means another 30 minutes of waiting for important pieces of mail. In addition, later starting times this winter will mean that carriers will be spending more time making their deliveries in the dark (something that was extremely rare just a few years ago but has now become an everyday reality every winter). What residential customers need to be aware of is that if a letter carrier becomes a victim of a serious injury due to a slip, trip, or fall while delivering on your property in the dark, that letter carrier will have the right to sue the owner of the property. With deliveries late in the dark, this also means your chances of getting those important checks deposited at your bank on time are now “slim to none.”

What can you do to fix this “late delivery” problem?

Contact your Congresswoman Judy Chu at (626) 304-0110 or Grace Napolitano at (626) 350-0150 (depending on which one serves your city) and demand that they take action towards the District Manager who runs the Santa Clarita District of the Post Office. Demand that your Congresswoman do whatever action is necessary in order to get your deliveries back to an earlier time. Remind your Congresswoman that should they choose not to take action, you will take your vote elsewhere the next time your Congresswoman is up for re-election (Grace Napolitano is up for re-election this November).

Years ago when residents of the 3311 district complained about their mail arriving as late as 10 p.m., then-Congressman Henry Waxman took care of the problem by going after the Post Office. Within days, Letter Carriers throughout LA County were mandated to start as early as 7 a.m. According to a Postal Union Newsletter that brought this story up, the Post Office blamed the late deliveries on Hurricane Katrina … yes, Hurricane Katrina!!!

Please help your Letter Carriers get back to delivering great service … and at earlier times. Sincerely,

Hard working US Postal Letter Carrier

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