Shaking up the Mail Bag

By Timmy Watson in News on Mar 11, 2007 7:02PM

It seems the mail at our abode goes through phases, occasionally we get everything in a timely manner and other times we receive our last three issues of The Week all at one time. Our mail is delivered by a sweet lady, so we tend to let things slide, even though our entire building has to sort out the mail that isn't theirs and drop it in front of doors. If anything, the post office has brought us all closer together. But, as the Sun Times reports, Chicago has the worst overnight mail delivery percentage in the nation. That explains why Netflix doesn't really work for me.

At 91 percent, we slightly beat out Philadelphia for the honor. The 35th ward staffers indicated they receive at least 10 complaints a day from residents and aldermen are finally taking notice. Ald. Rey Colon was campaigning last month and a resident stopped him to give him his mail that was incorrectly delivered to her.

In the early 90's Chicago received national attention when burning mail and a truckload of undelivered mail was found during an audit. A postal workers apartment was also found to have 2,300 pounds of mail in it. By 2005 the city had finally gotten the rate up to 95 percent. It started declining in 2006.

Chicago postmaster Gloria E. Tyson is showing signs that she wants change, she took the job 4 months ago. The postmaster at the Ravenswood branch, in an article by News Star, indicated that they have been experiencing difficulties because of staffing issues. Tyson said they are addressing staffing issues at the branches. We know, at least at our post office, that organization is probably one of the biggest issues. Almost every time we've had to mail or pick up something it is running slightly different. It also looks like it's 1960 in there. Maybe it's our naivety, but we do feel like it will get better before it gets worse.