Call Jerry Cox postally challenged or letter imperfect, but call him — don’t write.
Cox said mail delivery was slow, late or non-existent for days at a time when he lived in Ravenswood Manor a few months ago. And when he moved to Edgewater last month, he said his mail wasn’t promptly forwarded.
He received one piece of forwarded mail in the 10 business days after he moved, Cox said. During that time, he found letters stuffed in his old Ravenswood Manor mailbox, though he claimed to have filled out the proper change-of-address forms. U.S. Postal Service’s Chicago spokesman Mark Reynolds said Cox’s carrier may not have recognized the forwarding address.
“It was extremely frustrating,” said Cox, 40. “I would like to be sure that we’re getting all of our mail.”
Blame neither rain nor sleet nor snow on Chicago’s erratic mail system — the worst in the country, according to U.S. Postmaster General John Potter, who bestowed the dubious distinction this spring.
Instead, blame the service slide on personnel shortages, inaccurate address logs and outdated machinery, which mail officials say is contributing to the problem. Postal leaders say they are taking steps to deliver change — including updating the address database and improving equipment — though they also say there’s no deadline for this work to be completed. Meanwhile, Chicago politicos and residents say they are growing increasingly PO’d at the post office because progress is too slow.
“The federal government should be put on notice that the people of Chicago will not tolerate slow service or ineffective service,” Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) recently told RedEye.
“We should give [the Postal Service] very limited time to fix the service; 30 days at best.”
Reynolds said his agency is making headway on improvements but conceded “this isn’t going to be an overnight job.”
“There’s no deadline per se, although we’re all working diligently and urgently to turn service around,” Reynolds said. “Similarly, we haven’t calculated the final price tag, but it’s safe to say that if we do the things we’ve laid out in our improvement plan, and we can get service to the level Chicagoans expect and deserve, the timetable will take care of itself, and it will be worth every penny.”
So far, Reynolds said, the Postal Service has hired more than 200 postal carriers for the city of Chicago and plans to hire more supervisors, who are slated to undergo management training.
There are new belts and moving parts for the equipment used to sort letters, large envelopes and magazines at the downtown processing plant, Reynolds said.
The Postal Service also found several thousand inaccuracies within its address database. So route inspectors and address management specialists are hitting the streets, checking addresses to map routes more effectively, Reynolds said. The Postal Service hopes the project, which began this spring, is completed in August.
Chicago long has served as a Bermuda Triangle for mail. In the mid-1990s, hundreds of pieces of undelivered mail were discovered under the back porch of a former city postal carrier, according to Tribune reports from the time. About the same time, the Postal Service discovered some 200 pounds of undelivered junk and advertisement mail burning on the South Side, the Tribune reported.
Years later, the city still has not stamped out its mail problems.
“I still get mail for past tenants,” said 21-year-old Mollie Kudalis, who has lived in her Lakeview apartment for more than a year. Kudalis said she wasn’t sure whether the previous tenants filled out change-of-address forms.
Gold Coast real estate brokerage firm Rubloff also receives the wrong mail, usually letters for other tenants in the building, corporate administrator Tina Rotter said. Rotter said mail for Rubloff and other offices in the building has gotten lost, and outgoing letters sit in the mailbox for days awaiting pickup.
“This has been going on for years. It’s just gotten worse and worse and worse,” Rotter said. “We’re almost just getting used to this, that this is the way it is.”
Even though he’s a freshman alderman, Fioretti said he has already heard a chorus of mail moans in his district, which runs from the South Loop to the West Side. His office has logged more than a dozen complaints about mail arriving late or not at all.
Fioretti himself has experienced first-class mail problems. He said he sent out a letter last year after the March primary to election judges. The mail was returned to Fioretti a few weeks ago, he said.
The problems have prompted multiple visits from U.S. Postmaster General Potter in recent months. Potter told a congressional panel last month the Postal Service is thoroughly reviewing its Chicago operations, especially its insufficient staffing levels.
“Local management took a risk. They obviously had expectations beyond what they were able to achieve,” he said at the time. A Postal Service spokesman declined a request to interview Potter for this story.
Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) said he’s willing to give the Postal Service two to three months to get its act together because Gloria Tyson, Chicago postmaster since October, is settling into the job and making changes. Mell noted his home service recently has become more dependable, but he said if mail delivery doesn’t wholly improve across Chicago, City Council hearings will be held.
“We’re monitoring the promises made to us,” Mell recently told RedEye. “I’m hoping to get back to some sense of [regularity] and reliability.”
Mell said he recently received about 150 mail-related complaints in a few week’s time from residents around the city.
Cox was one such critic, complaining to Mell about his alleged snail mail and late delivery times.
Mary-Terese Cozzola contacted Mell’s office too — but not to complain. She praised her postal worker, Peter, who she said knows everyone in the neighborhood and makes an effort to deliver packages early.
“He’s like the idyllic postal carrier,” said Cozzola, 44, of Ravenswood Manor. “The only problem is when he goes on vacation, we stop getting our mail.”
———-
tswartz@tribune.com
– – –
When the mail stops
For nearly three weeks this spring, Casey Williams said he was dogged by mail delivery problems. His carrier refused to deliver to his Roscoe Village home because of Williams’ 60-pound black Labrador, Chuck.
The Postal Service said dogs accosted the carrier on Williams’ property at least twice, an allegation Williams denies.
“[The carrier] was never near the dog. It was fenced in,” Williams said.
Williams’ mail delivery resumed recently after he and his roommate moved their mailbox to the fence. The Postal Service says it can refuse to deliver mail in potentially dangerous environments, including to dropoff spots with icy walkways, blocked mailboxes and unrestrained dogs.
The Chicago unit of the Postal Service recorded 23 dog biting incidents last year. USPS spokesman Mark Reynolds said carriers try to find a way to communicate to postal customers about the hazard so customers can make other arrangements for mail delivery.
“As a matter of policy, we don’t expect our carriers will deliver in situations that they deem unsafe,” Reynolds said.
– If you’re experiencing problems with your mail delivery, the post office advises you to call 800-ASK-USPS or go online to usps.com.
–Tracy Swartz, RedEye
– – –
How your mail gets where it needs to go
Letter is dropped into collection box, mailed at retail window or given to letter carrier.
Letter is collected. All mail from each ZIP code’s collection boxes, plus whatever was mailed at that post office during the day, is grouped by shape and class and sent off to processing.
The letter is then transported to an area processing plant.
At the plant, the letter is canceled. A machine sprays a postmark on the stamp to officially indicate when it was mailed and to make sure the stamp can’t be reused on another letter. Machines also face the letters so that they’re alllined up the same way.
The letter is run through automated processing machines to sort by ZIP code in the early afternoon or evening.
If letter is going to local address:
The letter is sorted again, this time into its place in the carrier’s route overnight. It is then transported from the processing plant to the delivery office in the morning. The carrier prepares mail for delivery and hits the street, usually by midmorning to deliver the letter.
If letter is going out of town:
The letter is transported by air or truck to destination. Once it arrives at a processing plant there, it goes through the same steps listed above.
– – –
BY THE NUMBERS
MAIL DYSFUNCTION
Newman from “Seinfeld” once said it best: “When you control the mail, you control … information.” The mail never stops — even in Chicago. Here’s a numerical look at the city’s operation.
1.2 million
Homes the postal district serves within the city limits and six adjacent suburbs
12,000
New addresses the Postal Service adds to the Chicago delivery network every day
40,000
Customers served at some 48 delivery stations and 29 retail units per day
2.1 billion
Pieces of mail Chicago postal carriers deliver each year
2,500
Delivery routes
8,800
Postal career employees, including mail carriers, supervisors and custodians
Source: USPS
