Jan. 28—For the past six months, Genesee town and rural residents have experienced a vexing lack of consistent mail delivery service. Earlier this month, patrons went without mail delivery for an entire week that disrupted commerce and caused homeowners untold angst.
“I think it was very inconvenient for some of the businesses,” said Genesee Mayor John Hermann. “There were some interruptions at city hall with mail delivery. Our (newspaper) is delivered by mail and we didn’t get it for a week and then I’d get four or five days’ worth of papers in one day. It’s been a trying time.”
Spokespersons at the Genesee and Lewiston post offices told the Lewiston Tribune they were not allowed to comment on this matter to the media.
But Kimberly A. Frum, a spokesperson at the U.S. Postal Service’s district office in Seattle, said that as of midweek, regular mail delivery at Genesee had resumed and the issue was resolved. This problem, Frum said, is not isolated to Genesee but has affected postal delivery services throughout Idaho and the entire country.
“It’s a well-known fact the Postal Service is facing staffing and hiring challenges both in Idaho and nationwide. The need is especially urgent in most areas for mail handlers, clerks, and mail carriers,” Frum said in an email. She also apologized for any inconvenience postal customers have experienced lately.
“All post office locations, including Genesee, have skilled and experienced management in place overseeing the day-to-day operations,” Frum added. “They’re using every available resource at their disposal to overcome staffing issues, including borrowing employees from other offices to match the workload to continue to provide the service our customers deserve.”
Frum said package volumes during the peak season and weather events, including the recent severe weather, contributed to inconsistencies in delivery.
“However, the volumes have leveled off and operations are back to normal. After speaking with management I can tell you the Genesee Post Office is current on all mail delivery,” Frum said.
Hermann confirmed that mail delivery had resumed as of midweek. On Friday, he said regular mail delivery was continuing in Genesee and it appears the problem has been solved.
Hermann also said he was told an internal investigation was begun to find out what happened at the Genesee Post Office but that could not be confirmed.
“I don’t know exactly what happened but the mail delivery was very erratic for almost six months,” Hermann said. “There were times where as long as a week we would not get mail delivery. It was hit and miss. At our house, the mail usually came between 12 (p.m.) and 1 and in the last six months it would come anywhere from 12 to 8 at night. … I just hope that they do have the issue resolved and we are going to get regular mail delivery.”
Frum said she was not aware of any internal investigation going on.
Although such problems are not isolated to Genesee, the Tribune was flooded with messages and phone calls from Genesee patrons who wondered what was happening with their mail service.
“When it got really cold early last week then (the mail carriers) all stopped coming,” said Nancy Draznin, a midwife who lives in Genesee. “There was a letter in my neighbor’s box that sat there for a good week that didn’t get picked up. Our mail wasn’t coming so my husband walked down to the post office and got the mail at the post office. But there were packages (in the back room) piled up so high that we couldn’t get anything.”
Draznin said some of those packages contained materials needed for expectant mothers and were fairly critical. Finally, after several days of waiting all the packages were delivered at once.
During this time, Draznin added, she and others had talked to their local postmaster, who referred them to the Lewiston post office that oversees the Genesee branch.
Despite several attempts to contact the Lewiston post office, Draznin said they could never get anyone to answer the phone.
“The whole town is complaining that nobody (was) delivering the mail,” she said. “We’ve had a little bit of problems before that but nothing so dramatic.”
Draznin said she wonders whether the postmaster general has curtailed services to save money and that effort is finally trickling down to the local communities.
“Is this a systemic problem or just something that’s really bad in our area?” she asked.
J.W. “Buck” Wright, a rural resident near Genesee, was another person who had mail delivery problems.
“We live out of town and rural delivery has been sporadic for months,” Wright said. “We’ve gone as much as seven days without delivery.”
Wright said when he inquired at the Genesee post office, “the postmaster at Genesee says it’s out of her hands. Her story is they cannot find anybody who wants to work. It’s beyond me to understand why anybody would not take that job with the pay and benefits postal workers get.”
According to payscale.com, the salary range for a postal service carrier in the Spokane area is $37,000 to $72,000 a year.
Frum said the U.S. Postal Service has been aggressively hiring to help bring consistency to its service. Multiple post office locations in Idaho held job fairs in 2023 and there are more planned this year.
“The Postal Service aims to hire hundreds of employees throughout the state in the coming months,” Frum said via email. “This contrasts with other industries and businesses who are downsizing or constricting their staffing. A career with the Postal Service offers the opportunity to make a difference in the community by giving employees the ability to work where they live. It provides stability, good pay, lifelong benefits and nearly endless career advancement opportunities throughout the entire agency.”
She said anyone interested in a job with the Postal Service may visit their local office and inquire or go online. Jobs are posted at usps.com/careers every other Tuesday until fully staffed.
“It’s important to know,” she added, “the national average to deliver a mailpiece or package across the nation is 2.7 days. For Idaho, on average, from the start of the fiscal year (Oct. 1) through Jan. 5, 2024, it took less than two days — the time a piece of first-class Mail is given to the Postal Service and its delivery — to deliver first-class mail sent within the 838 ZIP Code. For mailing to locations within the state of Idaho from the 838 ZIP Code area the average is also less than two days.”
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
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