Abandoned mail found

MILTON — Residents in the Dogwood Drive, Berryhill Road and Hamilton Bridge Road areas of Milton want to know why their mail delivery is so poor and gathered at the post office on Dogwood Drive to complain. An anonymous tip led to a potential clue to the problem — abandoned mail left on a rural road north of this area.

More than 30 individuals lined the post office on Dogwood Drive Nov. 27 to complain about not receiving mail at their homes.

James Mitchell lives on Delta Drive. He is a retired veteran who has had ongoing issues with mail delivery of prescriptions, retirement checks and regular mail. Mitchell said he routinely has to make visits to the post office to complain.

"All the post office employees do is make excuses and lie," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he feels part of the problem is that he does not believe the Milton post office knows what they are doing. He said he has seen the mail carrier drive down his road and put mail for multiple homes in one box.

Ronald Burkett, who lives on Hamilton Bridge Road said, "The mail delivery has gotten real bad. You show them a tracking number and they still do not know exactly where your package is. The employees keep saying that the problems are because of union employees they can't get rid of."

Burkett said every time he has come to the post office the line for the complaint department is long.

"How long does it take to get a handle on it?" Burkett asked.

Patrice Bias, who lives on the same street as Burkett, owns her own business and said she had gone 15 days without getting any mail. She said it has become a big problem because she gets checks and other important things for her business. Bias said she has had to miss two days of work to try to handle this problem, which she originally thought was just due to her delivery driver. She had no idea the problem was so widespread.

One person in the complaint line, Melissa Levanduski, said the post office mail delivery is so bad her neighborhood created a Facebook page so they can exchange mail with the correct recipient when the carriers deliver it to the wrong address.

Nov. 29 a Milton resident made a discovery and alerted the Press Gazette — mail abandoned along Mayburn Bridge Road in a private rural dirt road.

Examining the area turned up at least two full crate bundles still banded in sorting piles from mailing trucks. Post dates showed intended delivery of at least early October. Addresses included Aster Street, Jackson Street, and Badger Road. Several smaller scattered piles littered the road as well in a radius the size of a city block. Some of the mail was difficult to see in the brush.   

According to a media inquiry response from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, investigators recovered the mail Nov. 29.

"The USPS OIG considers the allegation to be a very serious matter," the response went on to say. "When these types of allegations are made, USPS OIG Special Agents along with our law enforcement partners vigorously investigate these matters."

The message had no more details but said the OIG takes this "alleged behavior" seriously and otherwise postal workers "are honest, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals."

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Abandoned mail found