By Jeff Lipton
Mail delivery has been a problem for the last two years but lately it has worsened, upsetting residents, said Tai, president of the Inwood Civic Association, who has lived in the community for 50 years. The problem is so severe and local postal officials so unresponsive to complaints that the association voted at this month's civic association meeting to draft a letter to the Postmaster General outlining a litany of problems. Leaders of the civic group are holding back on sending the letter because they recently heard from an Inwood post office official who has offered to attend a meeting to straighten out their problems.
Mail is delivered to homes in Inwood after 3 p.m. and oftentimes 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., residents said.
It's an on-going problem. It's been a problem for a long time and it's getting worse. Sometimes I get mail a week late and that's a problem throughout Inwood, said Tai, who lives on Sprague Road.
She said residents joke when they get mail with store sales, which have already expired by the time they see it. But it's no laughing matter when bills are marked past due, she said.
In addition, residents, she said, frequently get someone else's mail or important letters are stuffed into the pages of junk mail magazines, which residents discard without realizing that the letter is inside. Tai surmised that letter carriers do that because Inwood is at the end of the route when mail carriers are tired. Tai has received mail that was supposed to have been delivered to homes on Doughty Boulevard and to homes on Finger Island Road.
The poor delivery in Inwood has forced many residents to search for options such as traveling to Lawrence and Cedarhurst to do their mail services.
For the last 15 years I've kept a Post Office Box at Lawrence and I'm so glad I did. It's been my saving grace, said Elisa Hinken, a resident of Brafmans Road in Inwood. The mail delivery is so bad over here [in Inwood]. My important mail I get a day or two late.
One resident of Mervin Street in Inwood said the mail service in the neighborhood is terrible and it has been getting worse. She said she frequently gets mail delivered to her home after 4 p.m.
If I mail a letter to a friend in Far Rockaway and a friend in Inwood, there's no reason why they shouldn't get it the same day, and that's not happening, said Jack Rose, treasurer for the civic association. It's an on-going problem and I don't know if it's a problem with sorting or what.
Residents trace the problem back about a year ago when the Inwood station was reduced to window service only. The carriers have been working out of Far Rockaway. Residents complain that their mail goes through Far Rockaway, Flushing and then Garden City before it comes to Inwood. We used to have all the workers coming out of Inwood, Tai said. Now there are no carriers coming out of Inwood and they are coming out of Far Rockaway. It seems they are using Inwood as a weight station.
Brian Kane, customer service supervisor and the Post Office's area manager, vehemently disputed complaints that the mail is frequently late and said if it is he hasn't received complaints about it.
He added that it takes the same amount of time to deliver the mail in Inwood as it did before the switch-over was made to Far Rockaway. Nothing has been brought to our attention, he said.
Kane said since the summer an extra carrier has been added to Inwood, increasing to six the number of mail carriers. So some people in Inwood should be getting their mail earlier than they used to, he said. Far Rockaway, which is a larger area, has 24 carriers delivering the mail, he said.
Even though Inwood has been closed as a mail carry station, the carriers still start out at 7:30 a.m. and end the day around 4 p.m. I could tell you there's no mail delivered a day or two late, Kane said. That's extremely erroneous to say the mail's a day or two late.
He said the Post Office is still a business and when employees call in sick or are injured, then the mail delivery may be late or delayed. We're dealing with human beings here, said Kane, adding that the move to Far Rockaway has had nothing to do with any delays.
Tai said neighborhood leaders have tried to reach out to postal officials in Far Rockaway, but they have been totally unresponsive, adding that she has tried to invite the local postmaster to a civic association meeting for more than a year.
Only recently have they received a response from Kane, indicating that he is willing to attend a meeting to answer questions, they said.
