By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
Residents expect mail carries to overcome obstacles. Like the motto says, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” except in Clifton.
“Last winter it came super late a few times. It was definitely dark — it would definitely be past 6, 7, 8 o’clock,” said Wes Dougherty.
“One evening we happen to see somebody going up and down the street with a flashlight to everybody’s house, they’re like what is that. It was the mailman delivering the mail by flashlight,” said Mary Parkin.
Parkin says while the proverbial check may be in the mail, the actual letter may not be in their mailbox.
“My next door neighbor has found her Social Security check down the street,” she said.
Clifton residents complained. It snowed, and that didn’t improve the situation.
“Around Christmastime, we had a different mail man every other day just about,” said Dougherty.
Motto notwithstanding, Postal officials blame lots of ice and snow and very steep roads for a lot of the mail delays this winter.
“At the end of the day, or the bottom line if you will employee safety is paramount to the United States Postal Service,” said U.S. Postal Service Spokesman George Flood.
The U.S. Postal Service does admit, Clifton’s facing difficulties — including a high turnover amongst postmasters. They’re working on it.
“We are in the process of searching for a replacement postmaster. We are, have a nationwide search going on to look for the best of the best to fill that position,” said Flood.
Mail carriers tell us they’re short-staffed and under pressure. They claim the Postal Service hires temps that need more training and transfers carriers from other towns to Clifton — where they just don’t know the territory.
“They would send our help and then now they bring people from different carriers to help us, Clifton out cause we so far I hear that we the only post office that needs help,” said an employee.
Beset by financial problems — losing revenue and business nationwide — the Postal Service is closing and consolidating offices, and downsizing its workforce. But they’re hiring in Clifton.
“We have initiated improvement plan specifically for Clifton to improve the delivery times and we have made a significant amount of progress. We had a lot of retirements so we’re in the process of hiring additional people,” Flood said.
He says the postal representatives will be meeting with Clifton officials and residents to address their complaints. But Parkin found her own solution.
“To be honest with you important mail, I have sent FedEx,” she said.