Late or missed mail deliveries are being reported in West Essex

UPDATE: As Caldwells and Essex Fells report mail delivery problems, Congressman steps in

Post Office in crisis series: part 2

The West Caldwell Post Office
Diane Lilli
Posted

Yesterday, this article published that problems with the mail deliveries in our area had been reported to the Jersey Tomato Press reached Washington D.C. Now, in order to see what can be done or to clarify the issues at hand (below) Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen is going to ask questions, and forward this piece to the United States Post Office headquarters in Washington, D.C.

After this article was published, numerous residents responded.

And, like a wild ticker tape, this slew of complaints just keeps coming in to my emails. Due to the many residents with stories about their problems in the area at our post offices and/or with their deliveries, I will run another piece tomorrow.

One West Caldwell resident wrote "When we went five days with no mail we were told (by West Caldwell) that following the snow, our carrier called out sick and our route was given to someone with an injury who couldn't deliver mail to the door."

But another resident said the issues on her entire block were not due to snow or ice, writing "We were definitely clear. It was our whole street."

Yet another resident added, "We were getting mail an average of 4-5 days instead of 6. Several times I had Priority tracking that would show a package out for delivery, and I would not receive mail that day. Can't tell me I just didn't have any mail when it says it is on the truck."

For now, read the article and let's see how long it takes the post office to get back to our congressman. I wonder: will they use regular mail or email?

A number of residents have reported late or even missing mail over the past few months in the Caldwells and West Essex.

Over the past week, a few anonymous postal workers in the Caldwells have confirmed there are problems with the mail delivery timing and also reported the schedule and work load for carriers and even window personnel has been what they call “stressful”.

One Essex Fells resident sitting in Rockn’ Joes yesterday said, “I did not get my mail Monday at all. And now I got my mail last night at 7 o’clock.”

Mail carriers, it turns out, seem to feel they have been overwhelmed with their work load and carrier routes, and have often times late delivering the mail.

“The carriers have been struggling for a while now,” said one anonymous source, who has worked in the post office in West Essex for numerous years. “Now they are being told to deliver to their regular route, which could be say 200 addresses, and then stay and deliver another route.”

This, the post officer worker explained, is why mail is late or even getting mixed up or not delivered on occasion. The work load is allegedly becoming too tough for the carriers, who are exhausted and then are told to stay for another few hours and keep delivering mail.

Calls to the West Office post office to Post Office manager and Post Office Master for the Caldwells, Essex Fells and Fairfield Janice Peters were returned by spokesperson George Flood.

My questions included if retirees had not been replaced over the past year; what may be the cause of the overloading of the carriers and in some cases, the window staff, at the Caldwells location, becoming overloaded and if there are any major issues concerning keeping the Essex Fells space open.

Flood answered.

“Right now she (Peters) said she has only two vacancies,” he noted. “We strive to minimize using carriers after 6 o’clock but don’t guarantee a specific delivery since there are so many varialbles involved.”

Also at issue is the Essex Fells postal workers using the West Caldwell offices to work, and not use their own facility in Essex Fells. Is there a reason post office staff are now working out of the West Caldwell offices? This reporter was told no one at the Essex Fells post office has been given any kind of official reason for being moved to West Caldwell to work.

Flood said the post office had spoken to the staff.

“They were told about our delivery unit optimization (meaning moving staff to larger facilities for some work, but not retail),” he said. “We are required to be inform (them) person to person through a service talk and in writing to their union reps.”

When I asked if the Essex Fells did not recieve any written notice of their change of location, as I had been told, Flood could not say if a letter had been sent.

A representative from the American Postal Worker’s union said the story is true.

“The union has approached management on several issues including sufficient personnel working to cover all categories of work,” the representative said.

The rep confirmed numerous issues have yet to be resolved and have been formally brought before the labor board.

When asked about the reports that mail is being delivered as late as 7:00 p.m. the representative said it is an ongoing problem for close to a year.

Flood said anyone with complaints can call the Post Office postal service Northern New Jersey district consumer office of consumer and industry contact at 732 819 3260.

When I called back two contacts, they both stood by their story (workload problems).

If you would like to add your information about your mail delivery to this piece, please email Diane@thejerseytomatopress.com.

Updates to follow.