Reisman: Complaining about Postal Service is futile

Soliciting comments about the quality of mail delivery is like throwing chum to sharks.

It's almost too easy.

But when it comes to retail politics, nothing, it seems, is too trivial, or obvious, to Greenburgh town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who for nearly a quarter of a century has run his office like a glorified complaint bureau.

For the second year in a row, Feiner invited his 88,400 constituents to share their experiences with the long-beleaguered U.S. Postal Service. Predictably, the replies poured in faster than you can say "dorsal fin" — and, predictably, the vast majority of them were complaints. However, in fairness to the Postal Service, it should be noted that none of them were written in all capital letters, a clear sign of apoplexy.

Feiner posted 80 responses, but withheld the correspondents' last names to protect the reasonably indignant.

Here's one that caught my eye:

"Hi Paul, I have had terrible trouble with mail. I'm Marianne. For the last half of December and first half of January I did not receive any mail. I did not receive my bills and actually had a collection agency calling me. My auto insurance cards are 3 weeks late and I've asked the company to send them again. I called the US post master general because I couldn't get through to the main White Plains office. A day after my complaint, I received my bills from the previous month, all at the same time."

That one goes on, but you get the idea. Marianne is hardly alone.

Helene had a similar problem. Her mail delivery had been late for days until Saturday "when I got 2 bills with overdue notices!"

Debra said she, too, goes many days without mail, "but worse than that is the fact that we are MISSING IMPORTANT MAIL!" (Yes, Debra did slip into all caps mode, but only that one time.)

People complained of late Netflix movies, prescription drugs, Medicare statements and tax documents. Kevin said he is still waiting for a "very important letter" that was mailed from Minnesota two weeks ago. Lotte wrote, "I for all intents and purposes have no mailman. Help!"

Several, like Joe, said they regularly receive mail — except that the mail they get isn't always theirs. "It is a weekly occurrence that I am walking to my neighbors to deliver their mail," Joe wrote.

A Facebook critic posted this acid comment: "I keep waiting to hear that the Hastings branch of the Post Office has been closed due to inefficiency."

One Greenburgher, Linda, was nostalgic for the good old days when a guy named Donald used to deliver the mail in her neighborhood. Donald was beloved, "a wonderful mailman."

"Since he was replaced we seem to have different drivers, get mail at different hours depending on the day, and on some days, especially lately with the bad weather, we received no mail whatsoever," Linda wrote. "Having a steady mail person seems to be the way to go."

Many noted that the harsh winter held up many deliveries. Fran, for instance, kept a log from Dec. 27 through March 7 that indicated 12 days of poorly delivered mail (thrown on the steps) or no mail at all. She wondered why her friends in Yorktown Heights, "with worse weather related problems get mail."

John blamed the spotty service on a lack of money.

Well, he hit on it. It's hardly news that the Postal Service is in crisis and has been for some time.

The volume of total mail has declined from 211.7 billion pieces in 2005 to 155.4 billion in 2014. Single-piece mail that require first-class postage stamps — bill payments, personal correspondence, letters, cards and the like — has shrunk from 45.9 billion pieces to 21.5 billion over the same period.

That's more than a 50 percent dropoff.

A consequence has been layoffs. According to the postal service, the agency's workforce has gone from 704,716 in 2005 to 486,822 as of Feb. 17 of this year.

The problems this causes are obvious — and many of them were contained in the rants to Supervisor Feiner.

What nobody mentioned, however, is that the means of communication they used to voice their complaints —email, social media and the Internet in general — are the primary causes of the postal service's chronic woes in the first place.

In English 101, this is called an example of irony.

Feiner dutifully sent his clump of complaints onto the proper authorities, with the hope and expectation that service will improve as a result.

A guy named Zef is not holding his breath.

He told Feiner, "By the way still waiting for that stump removal you promised me over 2 years ago, so I won't expect improved mail either."

Email: preisman@lohud.com Twitter: @philreisman