Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sort Handed: Chris Nagasaki, a postal worker for 18 years and an on-the-job trainer, sorts mail before starting his route.
Post office gets delivery complaints
One route doesn't have a full-time carrier
By Kate Carter
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night will prevent U.S. Postal Service letter carriers from delivering the mail--but inexperience might. Some residents of Willow Glen say they're not getting their mail delivered or picked up correctly, and they want something done about it.
Local post office officials, however, say they're aware of the problems and are making changes to address the complaints.
"We are suffering from just horrendous mail service on our street," says Iris Court resident Jeff Berg. "You don't think very much about the mail, until you have problems."
Iris Court residents have been particularly vocal in drawing attention to their problems that they say have been happening for six to eight months. Berg gathered nine signatures on a petition to solicit better mail service and took it to the Willow Glen Postal Station on Meridian Avenue. Problems he says they want addressed include mail deliveries to the wrong homes, sometimes miles away, and outgoing mail not getting picked up or being delivered to other homes along the street like incoming mail.
Some people have missed receiving checks or bills and other important documents, he says. But most residents agree that things are improving. Willow Glen station manager Carolyn McAllister says that's because she and the station employees are making some changes.
Iris Court is on what's called an auxiliary postal route. That means it's not a full route, and so, therefore, it doesn't have a regular, full-time letter carrier assigned to it.
Instead, Iris Court residents and others on Route 10, which includes stretches of Nevada, Newport, Glenwood and Cherry avenues and the Almaden Expressway, receive their mail delivered by temporary carriers, or carriers who are training to receive regular status.
Without a consistent carrier or someone who has been fully trained, the route may receive poorer service. But McAllister says she has implemented some measures to resolve problems.
Mail is sorted by the carriers into slots, one for each address. McAllister says she has labeled addresses with particularly problematic mail delivery problems with red dividers. She also says that the current mail carrier is on track to becoming a regular carrier, and will remain in the area after he passes probation. He has been there for six weeks.
Perhaps most importantly, Route 10 may become a full route in its own right.
"This auxiliary route has grown before my eyes," she says. "I'm trying to booster it to become a full route."
An auxiliary route is one that takes less than eight hours to complete, McAllister says. Route 10 consists of a number of areas that were removed from other routes as those areas became too large. Right now, though, the route is only about one hour away from filling the full eight hours, and McAllister sees relief in the near future.
A new 33-home development is going in near the Willow Glen Station, and she says she has plans to put that on Route 10. Although it is not adjacent to the rest of the route, it could be delivered by the carrier as he or she leaves the station on the way to the rest of the route.
The route will have to be reviewed by the district postal office before it will be eligible for a full carrier, McAllister says. She says that she expects Route 10 will be a full route by the end of next year.
Until then, Route 10 residents may have to deal with less-than-perfect service.
McAllister recommends that people make their addresses visible near their mailboxes so that carriers unfamiliar with the residences will be able to make more accurate deliveries.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
