Posted on 05/14/2014 6:35:51 AM PDT by Gamecock
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — One day recently, Al Gameos got mail in Wilkinsburg, but none of it was his.
“I got three different pieces of mail from three different streets,” he said.
On the Northside, Paul Pongrace says mixed up mail has forced people to become carriers themselves.
“People in the area are walking from one street to another street basically delivering their own mail,” he said.
But perhaps most shocking is Kevin Whalen’s experience: his wife saw their mail carrier putting something in their garbage can.
“So I came outside lifted up the lid and all this mail was in here,” he said.
KDKA’s Andy Sheehan: “He just dumped the mail in the garbage?”
Whalen: “Just dump the mail in the garbage and he actually made an attempt to hide it. He actually put it down alongside and under a bag.”
The Postal Service says if it’s true, that’s not OK.
“If that individual is guilty of what has been alleged here, he or she is going to face serious consequences,” said Tad Kelley with the US Postal Service.
The postal service here in Pittsburgh is investigating all of these incidents. But we wanted to know: is this isolated or part of a larger problem?
“Pittsburgh is a great city for service,” Kelley said.
The Postal Service says our region has one of the best delivery percentages in the nation — 97 percent. But since we aired our first story on mail problems in the city’s east end, we’ve gotten more complaints about lost bills, checks and important notices.
SHEEHAN: “You do acknowledge that you’ve hired a lot of part-time employees. There is sort of a learning curve.”
KELLEY: “There’s no question about it, there’s no question about it. We’ve had a lot of retirees.”
With less demand and greater competition, the postal service nationwide has shrunk from 800,000 to 500,000 workers. The postal service has replaced longtime mail carriers with new employees who are part-time and paid less. And many of the complaints involve the part-timers.
“They’re being trained and there’s a learning curve to this job,” Kelley said. “It’s not the easiest job to do, it’s a physical job. But it’s a job folks take very much pride in and there are circumstances where we have poor service and for those, we want to apologize and we want to correct them.”
The smaller workforce has also resulted in a consolidation of sorting center centers — another possible reason for misdirected mail like a letter mailed in Wilmington, Dela. to the internal revenue service in Hartford Connecticut which was delivered to a house on Beacon Street in Squirrel Hill. But Kevin Whalen says there’s no excuse for mail being delivered to his garbage can.
“I can’t say this is all the time,” he said, “but just for it to even happen once I think is once too often.”
The postal service says it investigated and the carrier admitted to throwing away the mail and has been fired.
To report any problems with your mail, you can contact the Postal Service Consumer Affairs Office at 412-359-7845.
“So I came outside lifted up the lid and all this mail was in here,” he said.
I remember back in the old days they would just hide it in storage units.
Any bets on the ethnicity of the carriers?
I hope that the 3% not delivered is to people who moved with no forwarding and the like.
How’s that Affirmative Action working for you, Philly?
Oops…Pittsburgh…but it’s the same story all over. Most of these “public servants” had no business being hired by the government.
After rifling it for any cash birthday gifts.
Ever since they banned incinerators it's been really hard on mail carriers.
No one’s ever broken the 50% barrier!
Pittsburgh ping!
Or the days when the local postmaster would receive a call from an angry customer, drive over, look at the situation, and then fire the carrier without question?
Wonder how much money we paid for the carrier to admit throwing away the mail. Betcha extended unemployment benefits would be the minimum.
How was this poor carrier to know not to throw mail into the garbage without proper training?
We’re putting up here with more temps the PO is hiring on. We routinely get mail that should have been delivered next door, to the next street.... So far they’ve all been for the same ZIP, but that’s bound to change.
I moved into an apartment 3 years ago and am still getting mail for 3 other people I never met and do not know. I called the Post Office, no luck, I marked the mail, Return to sender, address unknown, signed em Elvis, didn’t work finally got a box of baby formula not for me, I gave it up well over 50 years ago, last straw.
I spoke to my mail carrier, who is good looking and has nice chests, and told her I had no use for the formula now but still like to look at the faucets from time to time. She got a kick out of that and put a label in my box saying that I am the only resident here. Even that don’t work.
I never have a problem when my good looking mail carrier is on the job but I have the occasional amish delivery guy and that seems to be when it crops up. I am setting up an ambush for him, going to put a cross on my mail box.
Worked for the AT+T guy who would not leave, I had politely told him I did need or want any of his products, but he kept talking, finally I thought let’s see how this works.
I said ‘Brother have you met Jesus?’ He couldn’t get away fast enough. You would thought I had thrown holy water on a vampire. He was amish also.
I’m in process of moving - getting new place ready & had utilities send mail there - postal guy, actually held my electric bill a week & wrote “new customer?” on it - luckily, I was able to pay over the phone. The only reason I knew it was an issue is that my Mom had sent something priority mail & checked the tracking & saw they had left a notice...so I scheduled a re-delivery, and it promptly showed up with the other held mail the next day. I guess they had not gotten my forwarding order yet.
Was it “junk mail”? :-)
(Shhh, don’t get Newman started!)
But at least they met the quota!
After rifling it for any cash birthday gifts.”
I sent two gift cards to two friends in Kansas from our Texas post office last year. Neither was received. Fortunately I had written down the credit card numbers on the gift cards. When I checked, both cards had been used locally. Took the info to the post office where I mailed them and sent in an official complaint. No action was taken by anyone. So I just don’t mail anything any more.
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