Recent Press Herald coverage of problems in the Maine postal operations (Sept. 13) covered the tip of the iceberg.
We have two addresses in Maine, one summer, one winter. This May, we put in forwarding orders to the summer address and canceled forwarding from the summer address to the winter one. Soon, it was apparent we were getting no mail at neither address. Mail directed to our summer address was forwarded to the winter address, and mail sent to the winter address was forwarded to the summer address. Our mail had entered a circular flow with no exit.
The manager of the post office sent nothing on – that did nothing, since the forwarding was done in Massachusetts. Calling the postmaster in Lewiston accomplished nothing; no one answered the phone. I drove there and talked to a clerk who promised to fix it. Nothing. I went again and talked to the postmaster. He claimed it would be fixed in four days.
Two months later, most mail is arriving at one address or the other. I cannot be sure none is still in what one postal employee called “forwarding hell.”
If this was unique, it would be our bad luck. But according to another postal employee, there were five box holders at that office who were getting no mail because of forwarding. When I mention my problems with the post office at my bank, at businesses I deal with, no one is surprised. Everyone expects the post office to screw up.
Neil Garston
South Casco
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