Posted on 02/11/2021 10:21:58 AM PST by Kaslin
The past year has definitely been tough on mail carriers in some areas. It’s bad enough that they have to visit so many homes every day, wondering if they’re going to contract the plague. But in some of the nation’s larger cities, they are also contending with mounting crime rates and assaults on postal workers. In the Edison Park neighborhood of Chicago, it appears that all of this pressure has finally become too much. CBS News in Chicago is reporting that some residents of that part of town haven’t gotten any mail delivered in up to two weeks. And when they’ve called the Post Office, they were told that they would have to come to pick up their mail rather than having it delivered in the usual fashion. Now they’re calling their representatives and the media instead.
Mail problems have been plaguing the city of Chicago and the suburbs since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
But people living in one northwest side neighborhood didn’t expect to hear this: Come get your mail yourself.
People who live in an Edison Park condo building, down the street from a United States Post Office, said when it comes to getting their mail, they have to stand in a line. That message was given to Tim Steigerwald’s neighbor on Monday.
“She was also told, and this is unusual, we’ll give you the mail now. But from now on you have to have people in your building call us ahead of time and pick up their mail. No delivery,” he said.
As to why this is happening, CBS has been having a hard time getting an answer from the Post Office. Their response depends largely on who you call. One supervisor flatly denied that anyone was told they have to pick up their own mail. But a spokesperson for the USPS told CBS that there were delays in delivery in that neighborhood. The residents agree with the second statement, with one neighbor quoted as saying he hasn’t had any mail delivered in two weeks.
Nobody from the Postal Service is blaming the lack of deliveries on fears of criminal assaults on the carriers. That’s probably a somewhat valid point. Unlike the much rougher neighborhoods on the South Side, Edison Park is still rated as one of the safer areas of the city, despite seeing some modest increases in criminal activity since the pandemic and the riots began.
The spokesperson for the Postal Service is also denying that this has anything to do with concerns over the pandemic. That seems to check out also. Chicago is dealing with outbreaks of COVID just like every other city, but the mail somehow still seems to get delivered.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who represents Edison Park, said that she’s been getting too many calls and emails for this to simply be a couple of isolated incidents. The official response that she received indicated that this is all being driven by a lack of manpower.
Schakowsky said her office has been told there is a huge post office staffing shortage, something the post office spokesperson echoed in a response to CBS 2. But the spokesperson said reported allegation that customers have to pick up their mail is not accurate.
I found that response surprising. Particularly during a time when so many people are out of work, you would think that people would be beating down the doors of the Post Office to take the qualification tests and apply for jobs. Positions with the USPS are like a golden ticket in most areas, and there have traditionally been waiting lists for a chance to get one. The compensation packages they offer are quite impressive given the relatively low level of education and skills required to come in at the entry level.
But I suppose we’ll have to take them at their word on this. If that’s the real reason, the question that the Postal Service needs to answer is why they aren’t aggressively hiring more workers? The unemployment rate in Chicago is still a bit higher than the national average. You’d think they wouldn’t have that much trouble finding workers.
Obviously it’s racism/white supremacy. People in the suburbs are still getting their mail. /s
Three day priority mail with a tracking number is now $7.95. Rarely is 3 days the actuality of the delivery. It was 6.75 not very long ago.
It is the legal responsibility for the mail to be delivered— for legal documents, financial instruments etc.— they CANNOT push this off on the customers, the public.
they’re probably tired after the run of mail in ballots...
> they CANNOT push this off on the customers, the public <
I’ve got a friend who lives in Maryland. And not out in the boonies either. If he wants his mail, he’s got to go to the local post office and pick it up. There is no home delivery. This has been going in for years. How the Post Office gets away with this I don’t know.
The problem isn't that they're not hiring, it's that they literally can't hire people fast enough. New hires have to go through an orientation and training program before they can touch mail and COVID restrictions has slowed that process to a crawl.
When a new employee gets to the station, 7 days a week, 15 hours a day is the norm. I know some people who have stuck it out who haven't had a day off since October. Their bank accounts look awesome - getting nearly $6k in pay for two weeks of work is incredible.
But most new hires come into this and last at most a few weeks, get told their first anticipated day off will likely be in 3 months and hand in their resignation papers. Which just increases the load on the rest of the employees.
Pair this with generous unemployment benefits around the country right now - someone who worked a low skill job (or even a high skill job) are tucking away $15-$21 an hour for a 40 hour in unemployment benefits with no deductions.
And no matter how easy it looks from the outside, being a mail carrier can be brutal on the body. 12-15 mile walking routes, slinging around boxes up to 75 pounds.
New hire retention is such an issue there that they have a board whose sole job is to try to get those hires who left to come back. (Starting wages are $17.23, zero guaranteed hours a week (which is meaningless right now in most urban areas), a 360 day contract where they literally can work you every single day of it...)
i got mail a couple days ago inviting me to the 2020 Christmas celebration at the local church. I subscribe to the Epoch Times print edition and have received my weekly paper 4-5 weeks after it was produced. USPS is the worst.
I remember when I worked at the post office I witnessed a drive by shooting on my route. The next day my boss told me just to deliver the street first because it was too early for gang members to be awake.
"Article I, Section 8, Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
But instead of using National Guard to make sure that US Mail Service personnel can safely deliver the mail, National Guard is being used to protect a corrupt, Democratic-controlled Congress that allegedly supported vote-counting fraud in the 2020 elections from Don Quixote’s imaginary despicable windmills.
“But in some of the nation’s larger cities, they are also contending with mounting crime rates and assaults on postal workers. In the Edison Park neighborhood of Chicago, it appears that all of this pressure has finally become too much.”
This is a total nonsense excuse. Edison Park is not a crime ridden ghetto, it’s a stone’s throw from the higher end suburbs on the Northwest side. It’s a nice quiet neighborhood with low crime rates, good scenery, and some decent restaurants.
Edison Park is probably whiter than the neighborhood you live in.
I think I see the problem.
Please, please!
Don’t you know the Post Office is too busy delivering mail-in ballots?
Edison Park is at least 50% Chicago cops, firefighters, and streets and sanitation workers who are all required to live within the city limits.
I used to do business in Chicago, mostly around Rogers Park, Lincoln Park, and Hyde Park. Hyde Park area was dicey. Rogers Park fairly nice, and Lincoln Park too. But I've heard that has all changed in the last thirty years. Supposedly even Rogers Park can be problematic now.
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds..... but dem gangsta’s be a whole nutha story! Screw dat!”
“A 360 day contract, where they literally can work you every single day of it!”.........That sounds like a slave’s existence. Most people would pass on such job conditions, unless they were desperate for any sort of employment.
I know it has been that way in other longtime professions too, mainly in the medical field.
Just because ‘it’s always been this way.” doesn’t make it the most efficient system in this day and age.
People wanting a post office job have to pass an exam.
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