Friday, January 29, 2016

USPS failure to deliver after blizzard has some Bethesda residents asking, "Where's the mail?"

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds

Not quite. Regular mail deliveries have not resumed for at least some USPS customers in Montgomery County. As of yesterday, mail was not being delivered on a daily basis - or at all since last Friday's blizzard - in parts of North and West Bethesda, and in Silver Spring, to name a few.

Those who have received at least one delivery report the amount of mail was small, entirely inconsistent with what should be a large backlog of nearly a week's worth of deliveries.

The USPS Service Alerts page is showing no specific alerts for Bethesda or Silver Spring. Nor is it citing any particular issue that would impair deliveries. A @USPSHelp Twitter account appears to be of little "help" to those tweeting to it.




31 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:32 AM

    So since Obama is in charge... ;)

    My mailman is working so hard to deliver the mail. No 4 wheel drive or snow tires on their trucks. Piles of snow and unshoveled walks to navigate. Icy surfaces. Unleashed dogs in the snow. Etc. bless the man he is trying his butt off.

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  2. Anonymous5:49 AM

    Yeah...not sure USPS are the bad guys here. Edgemoor and Arlington, just past the library, was unplowed until Wednesday night, and untreated until yesterday early AM. I'm a block from the Metro and I couldn't even get to our mailboxes until Wednesday evening. They can't deliver the mail if they can't get to you.

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  3. Anonymous5:56 AM

    They aren't the bad guys true but they could communicate much better. We expect the mail at this point in the aftermath but yesterday, no mail still. I picked mine up the other day and glad I did. Got three packages I was waiting for. All goes back to the snow removal. Again, county offers no apology for their ineffective snow removal and lack of essential services like mail and trash for that matter. Will they deliver today? Who knows. If you go up to post office and ask, they can't even tell you.

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  4. Anonymous6:02 AM

    I think the residents of Moco need to shoulder some blame on this one. A lot of us are miles behind the times. Look to the wonderful progressive hamlet of Alpine, NJ. There is no local mail delivery to individual houses. All mail is delivered to the central post office. Then, people just send their domestics out to pick up the mail. This is not only efficient and earth friendly (hello, why are mail carriers not driving electric vehicles?) but it also serves to protect the privacy of the people who live in Alpine.

    Our household has already taken the Alpine model to heart. Our domestic has been able to bring us the mail every day this week. She had to walk on Monday and Tuesday, but she has been able to get the mail via car the rest of the week.

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  5. I think people would be understanding if there are legitimate delivery issues. It would help if USPS would simply post what the problems are on the alert page I linked to in the article. I see specific storm-related problems listed for other jurisdictions on there.

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    1. Anonymous6:20 AM

      Agree

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:40 AM

      Um. Snow. The problem is snow. Lots of it. Not sure we need a posted notice that there will be delays.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous5:32 PM

      In this day and age of instant communication, of course you give notice. It's fast and cheap to put a clear notice on the USPS website about mail in Montgomery County. They had a notice about service delays but could have been more specific.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:18 AM

    @ 6:02 PM/Intelligent Bethesdian - you don't need to look all the way to the Philistine land of New Jersey, to find that postal paradigm. Garrett Park uses the same.

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  7. Anonymous7:33 AM

    They delivered to my house in Landon Woods even before we were plowed. The guy parked his mail truck a block away then walked our block (sidewalks were cleared) to deliver.

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    1. Anonymous1:54 PM

      That's excellent service!!

      Delete
  8. Anonymous8:50 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. Anonymous9:21 AM

    7:33 Neighborhoods. How gauche.

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  10. Anonymous9:34 AM

    8:50 AM apparently has watched too many reruns of Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons and Tom and Jerry.

    Maids these days are named Josefina and Consuela.

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  11. Anonymous10:09 AM

    Still no mail today at my house in Wyngate. We've been plowed and cleared for days.

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  12. Anonymous10:18 AM

    8:50 needs his mouth washed out with heavy duty soap

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  13. Anonymous1:40 PM

    Reading this makes me realize I need more domestics. I love that term. What's wrong with maid, housekeeper, valet, foot man, butler?

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  14. Anonymous4:46 PM

    The no mail issue I guess only affects those who are expecting specific mail items or sending out important mail. If that doesn't apply to you then I can see why certain readers don't care if the mail carrier is coming out to their street.., but, notice as to when mail service is interrupted is helpful to some people.

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  15. Anonymous3:44 PM

    Today is eight days since storm. We are a home-based business in the 20817 zip code of Bethesda and, except for a small delivery yesterday, we have received no mail, not even today. Postal service has been no help. Was told to contact Consumer Protection Office at 202-636-1200. Will do this on Monday.

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    1. Anonymous3:50 PM

      I'm 20817 off Greentree a mile from Old Georgetown. Gotten some mail but today, Saturday, nothing. Friggin drives me nuts. Thank goodness I didn't have anything from Amazon Prime that I really needed. Wait, they did deliver my Prime shipment today but no regular mail. Figure that out. Calling Consumer Protection I imagine is more painful than a root canal.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous3:59 PM

    Remember the Seinfeld episode where Newman had so much mail to deliver that he was throwing it in the trash? Something to think about 😱

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  17. Anonymous7:21 PM

    Still no mail in Wyngate. It's Saturday

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    1. Anonymous7:25 PM

      Damn really? How are your roads and sidewalks?

      Expecting something important? Is there someone you can contact or an option to pick it up?

      That sucks and doesn't make any sense.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:35 AM

    We are getting frustrated, angry, and quite nervous regarding our seven-days' worth of missing mail. I have called USPS twice (not an easy task) and have been reassured that our mail would be delivered by last Thursday. It was not. I contacted Van Hollen, Hogan, Leggett and tomorrow Consumer Protection. Why not? Most people don't care about the mail because most of it is junk but we get paid by our customers through checks sent in the mail and we're getting a bit desperate.

    "Neither snow nor rain nor sleet nor hail. . ." Where is my mail?

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    1. Anonymous11:48 AM

      Good question - who do we talk to about federal level services like USPS?

      That slogan sucks though. they shouldn't deliver in terrible storms. But now that it's clear they should.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous11:37 AM

    to 7:25: our roads in Wyngate are perfect as are the sidewalks and access to mailboxes

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  20. What's the Wyngate post office? I asked a USPS investigator and he said you need to check with your home post office. USPS service technically was all resumed on Wednesday I think he said.

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  21. Anonymous8:06 AM

    Since Arlington Rd PO closed, does Wyngate use the Westlake PO now?
    Did they generate a "hold" on your delivery because of volume?

    I'm further north, but our mail started right back up last Weds, mostly 1st class.

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  22. Anonymous8:49 AM

    Wyngate post office is Westlake. And we're still not getting mail. Crazy.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:49 PM

      Have you spoken to the Westlake office? They should have been delivering for a while now.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:45 AM

    And you HAVE checked about a hold on your address' mail?

    Knew of that happening a few years back to a neighbor.

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