This is a phrase that I had always associated with the Post Office when I was growing up. "The mail must go through" was another such phrase. How long has it been since anyone felt that way about the Post Office? Public perception of the US Postal Service has sunk like a stone.
The future of the Postal Service is in the public eye. The US Postal Service is bleeding money. In these times of budget cuts, politicians are looking for places to get the axe. The US Postal Service is an obvious target. Do we really need six days of home delivery per week? Can we cut back on the number of branch offices? These are decisions that will need to be made over the coming years.
Our Postal Service is not doing much to help their case. Here in Binghamton, New York, we are fighting to recover from horrible flooding that has destroyed many homes and businesses. Many of my friends have lost their houses and almost all of their belongings. We were lucky - we escaped with almost no damage. The road in front of our house had a very minor washout. Right now, there are rocks in front of my mailbox.
Since our highway department was dealing with far more serious problems, we did not even report this. We figured that it could wait. However, our mail carrier stopped delivering our mail. They did not give us any notice. When we did not receive any mail on Monday or Tuesday after the flooding, my wife went to our branch post office. They told her that the mail could not be delivered due to the rocks in front of our mailbox.
Ridiculous.
There were some fairly large rocks that were loose, which I removed. Then, I drove over this area myself - and so did my wife. I drive a small Saturn sedan, and my wife drives a Toyota minivan. Neither of us had any problem. It is apparently, however, too much for our mail carrier, who is too delicate for these rocks. (I wonder how our mail carrier handles speed bumps?) Stopping the car and walking two feet to the mailbox is out of the question.
Unfortunately, this is not a case of just one mail carrier. When my wife went to our local Post Office to discuss this, she was snapped at by the postal clerk at the counter. My wife was told that mail would not be delivered until the town fixes this problem. The postal clerk claimed that we had been given notice, which we never received. Instead of a reasonable explanation, our friendly Postal Service employee copped an attitude.
Our Fenton Highway Department will come and repair this. They are very good - they work hard, are dedicated, and really try and address any issues or complaints that are presented to them. Their attitude is the polar opposite of what I have seen in the Postal Service.
For us, this is nothing more than an inconvenience. Now, we have to pick up our mail. This does, however, drive home the point of how pathetic our Postal Service has become. It's sad that this once proud organization has degraded itself to being the punchline of jokes.
My heart goes out to all of the people who are fighting to rebuild their lives. I would like to thank all of the individuals and businesses who are doing so much to help our community deal with our adversity. Sadly, the Postal Service is failing to join in.
