Snail mail fail: Greenburgh residents making hundreds of complains about postal service

GREENBURGH — Almost two years after U.S. Postal Service Chief Operating Officer David Williams assured residents and Supervisor Paul Feiner that delivery service would improve, Feiner said he's receiving "snail mail" complaints at a record pace.

"If I had something very important to mail, I wouldn't send it through the U.S. Postal Service because you can't be sure it will be delivered," Feiner said. "We've received hundreds of complaints in the past year — at least five a day."

The town is one of several, including Larchmont, New Rochelle and others in southern Westchester, that have experienced mail problems over the past year or so. Complaints range from mail being late or delivered to the wrong address to medications, checks and bills not being delivered at all.

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"If people don't get their mail one day, they can live with it. But when you're talking about 4-5 days waiting for medications or tax documents or checks, that's a real problem," Feiner said.

Last week, the postal service's Office of the Inspector General confirmed that it was launching an investigation into the spotty haphazard service. In response to Feiner's inquiries about recent problems, Patricia Irons, the postal service's manager for public policy planning and analysis, said the matter has been forwrded to the Inspector General.

The office, she said, "is responsible for investigating any complaints... including mismanagement."

Feiner remains skeptical. He said that despite receiving promises from local and regional officials over the past year that postal service was being monitored and improvements were in the works, his office continues to receive a steady flow of emails describing problems.

"It's the number one complaint we get," he said. "We've had problems for several years now, but in the past few months it's been really bad."

Typical is an email sent by a Hartsdale resident: "We have gone days without mail, and when I call to ask, several days (worth of deliveries) show up the next day. We have many days where we get no mail at all."

Another Hartsdale resident wrote that "I received a call from my medicine provider that my package was returned to them, saying that I no longer resided at our address! Can you imagine my dismay and suprise to hear that? Thank goodness they reshipped it right away."

"I rely on online orders even more than the average person, " wrote a disabled Hastings-on-Hudson resident who doesn't drive. Since the fall, she said "there have been considerably more issues with mail delivery," including a failure to deliver medications.

In October, she said, a relative in California sent her a box of fresh fruit via "priority mail," which should have taken two or three days to deliver. Instead, she said, "a torn box of rotten, sticky, stinking produce" arrived at her home more than a week after it was shipped.

"People count on the mail service, and it's become very unreliable," Feiner said. "They say they'll investigate, but who knows if they will? I'm going to write to the Post Master General and invite her to come to Greenburgh and meet with some of the people who've had problems. That might finally get us some results."

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Rep. Elliott Engel, D-Bronx, made a similar request in a January letter to U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan. The letter urged the postal service to schedule a local meeting in Larchmont to discuss the problems there. Schumer and Engel made a similar request four months earlier.

To this date, no meeting has been scheduled.

Westchester District postal officials will be in 22 post office lobbies from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 3 to thank customers for their business, share mailing tips and listen to feedback about concerns and problems. Check with your local post office to see if they are hosting a Customer Appreciation Day event.

Residents can also contact the toll free Customer Care Centger at 1-800-275-8777 with specific complaints or compliments. Customers can also send postal officials email by logging onto USPS.com and clicking on the "Contact Us." link at the bottom of the page.

Twitter: @RichLiebson