"So if it's not at the Post Office, where is it?"

-

 



Just checked our mailbox at 9:30am, it's empty. 

    What a disappointment. As soon as I got my negative COVID result, I knew my first stop would be the Roger's Park Post Office at 1732 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL 60660. How sad is that? I've been in quarantine for 3 weeks with my husband and 4 year old son. I am eight months pregnant, and my relief at being "free" was met with the dread of going to to the place that has created a monster- a mail hungry monster. 


Here is the mail we had yesterday- technically, we are "receiving" mail- but this is all from the past week. Our People's Gas bill is there for December- but we never received our gas bill for November. Follow me here on Instagram!


The line was not long when I entered the building at 1pm during my lunch break from WFH. I stood six feet apart from people as much as possible. There were about 4-5 people ahead of me, most looking for mail or to send/apply for important overseas documents. The three customer service people at the desk were calm, friendly, and working as speedily as possible. When it was my turn, I asked for my 31 days worth of mail, gave her my address, and she looked up my route number. She then went to the back and I waited about 5 minutes. When she came back (with no mail), she noted that our route carrier moved to another post office a month ago, so the carrier position was vacant. They just put a new carrier on our route, Mr. Suco? (SP) and he was out delivering mail right now, so our route section was empty.
 

Me:  "So this mail carrier has all 30 days of my mail with him?" 
Customer Service: "No." 
Me: "If my mail isn't here, and if he doesn't have it, where is it exactly?" 
Customer Service: "Probably back at 'the plant.' but they have had a high outbreak of COVID, so it's been delayed. Have you signed up for informed delivery?" 
Me: "My address is ineligible."
Customer Service: "Ok then what you can do is call this post office..." 
Me, interrupting: "Ive called this post office every day, no one picks up. I've also called Theresa Starr (Branch Manager) and Wanda Prater (Post Master), but they have not responded at all. I've made multiple inquiries to the USPS website, who on Nov 19th said there was a bad covid outbreak and my issue has been 'resolved,' which clearly it hasn't." 
Customer Service: "Oh, ok... then you need a supervisor..." 
Me: "yes."

Theresa Starr, Branch Manager
Theresa Starr, Branch Manager
(773) 743-2650

Wanda Prater, Post Master
Wanda Prater, Post Master
(312) 983-8022

I then spoke to the supervisor at the Post Office, "Ms. Lucas," who took down my information and asked me for my address, if there was anything "important" I'm missing- which, yeah, I'm missing like all my mail but we are waiting on license plates, city stickers, new insurance cards, bills, EVERYTHING from 31 days- and she said she was going to "look into this." She did not take my phone number. She did tell me (again) that we have a new carrier because our old carrier left, and he was "working through the backlog but there's only one of him." 

At this point, I knew there was no mail for myself or my family, I left the post office empty handed. While I was leaving, I noticed that the lobby had become very crowded, with at least 15 people. It is a very small space, so to see so many packed in during a pandemic was worrying.

It appears that the media pressure is working and also at least here in Chicago, more neighborhoods are getting noticed as well, which is good for the entire city. 

In other news, my Dad and I were on Chicago Tonight! I thought it was a good piece, and I was really intending to showcase my father, who is a cancer survivor (immunocompromised) with a Laryngectomy (unable to voice). 

If not for my efforts and the efforts of my neighbors, people like my Dad don't have a way to get their mail, which is now dangerously delayed. Many people in my area are waiting for medications, checks, important documents. One of the only ways during this pandemic to communicate that people rely on is the USPS mail, and we've been left to go to the Post Office, which is dangerous. 


If you read this, please comment, share and use the hashtags: #rogersparkpostoffice #whereisourmail

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye, 2019. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

-
Image
What a horrible, awful, no good year 2019 was! I would like to start 2020 positively, but to do so, I have to take measure of what exactly I lived through in 2019. Indulge me for a moment in this timeline: January: This was a good month. Joe and I were doing Whole30, I was not drinking, and I was bullet journaling regularly. I was also starting a new Master's program, "Health Communication." I had two classes- Social Construction and Statistics. I instantly fell in love with my new major. Even though the material proved daunting, I did pretty well in my classes. February: Trucking along with Whole30, not drinking, working out regularly and enjoying my classes. March: This is when it hits the fan. The weather starts to improve, but my aging parent's health starts to decline. The day after my darling nephew's birthday party, my mother, Mary, enters the hospital for a lung biopsy. She had been diagnosed with COPD and Lung cancer 2 years before. The lung ...
Read more

Starting to feel like the Titanic Lady

-
Image
  "It's been 35 days..." each day that goes by, this situation ages me a little more, and I feel as if I am fighting a fog with my fists. No one is responding, no one is reaching out to me or my neighbors about my mail. Let's review:  35 Days without regular mail delivery (I've received 5 piece of mail in the past month) 5 packages currently in purgatory 7 USPS Customer service cases since 11/15 (all "resolved!" on their end) 5 Daily phone calls for the past two weeks. No answer. No response.  This afternoon I was on the radio talking to Anna Davlantes on WGN 720 radio. Since the media has quieted down on the issue, the mail has slowed down again. Although the Roger's Park Post Office has claimed to hire 8-10 new carriers, quick train and deploy them, they will be ready, (I'm assuming) to start working just as the holiday mail surge happens. Then we are backed up by a month, not getting current, daily mail, and will be expecting holiday mail... w...
Read more
-
Image
Here is a paper I wrote about my favorite hobby for speech class. It involves a deadly weapon and an unstoppable desire to loose arrows. Enjoy!  Archery Informative Speech   Pauline Mulkerrins   Speech 101   Professor Frelix July 10, 2014   MANUSCRIPT   I’ll never forget the first time I used a bow and arrow. I had dreamed of this day since I was little.   After a short safety instructional, I held the bow tightly in my right hand, and put the arrow on the bowstring with my left. The target looked huge and was only about 10 yards away, but it seemed so far. I was so scared I was going to miss and shoot my instructor or miss terribly. I instead took a deep breath, put the bow into position and pulled back the arrow. I knew at that second I had found something I loved. I let go of the string, and my arrow hit the target! I did something so simple and yet so scary. I looked at my archery instructor and g...
Read more