The people on the rural routes notice it every day. The mail arrives some time after 9 p.m. because they find it in the box in the morning. They see the mail trucks in the neighborhood well after dark or heading back to the post office close to midnight. Their mail includes letters and catalogs addressed to their neighbors, who also get incorrectly delivered mail. Some people have even had their mail stolen. There are unconfirmed reports that Raleigh mail carriers have come to Wake Forest after their shift in Raleigh and run Wake Forest routes.
The problems of late mail and incorrect deliveries began perhaps three months ago and have grown steadily worse. Apparently, the complaints to the postmaster have also increased.
Postmaster? There is no postmaster currently in Wake Forest. Instead there is Tammy McKay, who said she is a manager, the head of a team of people sent in to “rectify” the problems. She had been in Wake Forest for a week and a half when she gave a short interview Tuesday.
“We are on top of it,” McKay said. “I will get it fixed.” She refused to answer questions about the former postmaster or what has caused the problems. She also did not give any indication about when the problems will be righted.
She did, however, say she is currently hiring people for delivery and other postal work. Applicants can find information about the job openings on www.usps.gov or at any of the state unemployment offices.
McKay also said the Youngsville carriers and route drivers are no longer working out of the Wake Forest office. They were moved to Wake Forest late in 2014 as part of a consolidation move; McKay did not know when the Youngsville carriers moved back to Youngsville.
This leaves a lot of unanswered questions which were referred Tuesday to the U.S. Postal Service District headquarters in Greensboro and to a media spokesperson who was not able to provide answers before press time Wednesday.
Those questions included when the postmaster left, if the problems began before he left or after; if after, why a replacement postmaster was not appointed very soon; how many carrier routes are there in the 27587 code and how many addresses are on those routes; why hiring for new carriers was not begun earlier?
The editor will be talking with the person in Greensboro before next week, when we hope to have answers. If you have any questions, please send them to the editor at cwpelosi@aol.com.
We should mention that Tuesday at the Wake Forest Post Office on East Holding Avenue, there was the usual steady stream of customers mailing letters and packages, picking up packages and checking their mail boxes. Despite the lines, the clerks remained unruffled and courteous.
14 Responses
Carol
Who do we file a complaint with if we have a tracking number that states a package was delivered at 10pm Thursday night, that I know for a fact was not?
Call 336-668-1375 which is a customer service number up in Greensboro, apparently, or the local post office number is 919-556-8421.
I asked our carrier about all this in October. He said the volume of political mail was such that carriers weren’t getting out the door until after noon…about a two hour delay. And of course, holiday mail kicked in shortly after that and has likely continued such delays. So from a delivery-time standpoint, the last several months are somewhat understandable.
As for the errors/missing mail/overall poor service…that’s been the norm since we moved to Heritage 3.5 years ago (which led us to convert much of our critical stuff to electronic delivery). Interesting note: we moved from an area just west of WF town limits, also and served by the WF PO…did not experience any of this in 15 years at that location!
Final point: our carrier mentioned during the summer that they all had to “rebid” their routes…that each of them compete for different areas/neighborhoods. From what he described, it sounded like a low-bidder situation (which in many cases doesn’t end well for anyone).
No this problem did NOT start 3 months ago, it has been happening the whole time I have lived in WF. it will be 2 years in March.
Rolesville [Town Manager and myself] has gone to Greensboro and got a poor response. I called Greensboro two months ago. Lady responsible for this area had a “I don’t care attitude.” I just sent an email to Tom Tillis’ office with this article attached. I also outlined numerous incidents in Rolesville. Our problems started when they moved our couriers to Wake Forest several years ago. I got an immediate response of an investigation will be started. We are going to set up a web site on our web page to receive complaints. I will gather these for Senator Tillis’ office. If that fails, you know me. I will be on the local TV news with this problem.
Carol, Thank you for addressing this issue. My zip is 27571, and the mail delivery needs to be improved! I called the Wake Forest Post Office and was told there were not enough mail carriers; I suggested they hire and was told there were few applicants. Connie Mitchell
Don’t know when the postmaster left but I met with him the first week of November as I went to vote. His name was Matt. Called him twice after that because problems continued but he never returned my calls.
Problems for years but drastically worse the past 4-5 months.
I don’t understand why the Postal service doesn’t have mail boxes in a single location for subdivisions like they do for apartments. It would save the carrier’s permit and the post office on fuel they’re trucks. Our subdivision has plenty of space by the clubhouse for such a project.
Our service continues to deteriorate. Over the last 12 months our afternoon deliveries have gone from around 1 o’clock in the afternoon to most recently as late as 930 at night. ZIP Code 27614 Is also experiencing delays as late as 1145 at night.
Hi Bill, Where is ZIP Code 27614?
Carol Pelosi
Carol – here is a map I found that shows the area zip boundaries: http://www.zipmap.net/North_Carolina/Wake_County/Wake_Forest.htm
I wondered when this problem would finally hit the press and be addressed. The mail delivery problem is not new but it is definitely worse. I hope your article brings the attention needed so that improvement is made.
I have been having similar problems for the past several months. Also, packages that I have in the past received from Amazon on a regular basis (for example 40 lbs of Dog food and cases of water) that had formerly come via Fed Ex have been coming during the weekday via USPS trucks.
Thank you Carol. We have had several problems including mail that I never received. We have called to register a complaint. The answer in the fall was that there was so much political mail but we did not receive that much. Now the answer is the holiday mail volume. The USPS delivers for Amazon on Sunday. Have the Sunday delivery people been pulled from regular delivery service?