LETTER: Carrier says demand service

To the Telegram:

I read the Feb. 19 “We the People” article by Alice Shultz. I have worked in Superior for close to 30 years as a carrier, and I agree with her as to the Post Office ignoring service to its customers. The three management personal who run the Superior office are from Duluth, so unless someone from the office put the article on their desk, they did not read it.

I guess as long as it is not their family, friends or neighbors standing in line for 45 minutes, it does not seem to bother them.

In my opinion there should always be two window clerks on duty. If nothing else one at the window and as soon as a line starts to form another should be brought up from the back immediately. Depending on what a customer’s needs are, that person can stop the line for 5 to 10 minutes or more.

The window clerks do a great job under the circumstances in which they have to work. The clerks have no control over staffing, their schedules or how long or when their required to take lunch and breaks. That is done by the Postmaster and his supervisors.

I have two suggestions: No. 1, next time any of you customers are standing in line out of the window lobby and by the front door. Bang on the Postmasters door; it is in the window lobby. Have him explain to you why there is not two window clerks and why it takes 45 minutes to receive service. If he will not answer the door or is not around ask for one of the supervisors in back. Have them come out to all you people standing in line and explain it to you.

Second suggestion, stop one of us carriers and get a stamps-by-mail order form, if all you need is stamps. Fill out the form with your check and give it back to the carrier, and you will get your stamps delivered to your house the next day.

We need more people like Alice Schultz, to demand better service from the Post Office. Postal management seems to have forgotten who they work for, the American public.

A few years back when clerk Ron Anderson retired, he said “I was hired by the United States Post Service and I retired from the United States Postal.” How true that has come to be.

Patrick A. Currie,

letter carrier, Superior

Tags: opinion, letters