Question: My New Year’s week issue of New Yorker magazine was delivered almost half torn off and missing. It looked like the state of Louisiana. It was in a plastic bag with a note from the post office saying that these things happen. I threw it away and considered it a loss. Was there any recourse? Shouldn’t they have returned it?
Answer: “We apologize for the damage” to your magazine, said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Duke Gonzales.
However, in cases like this, he said the post office will not return the damaged item.
“If there is a readable delivery address, we will deliver a mail piece, even if it has sustained damage,” Gonzales said.
As in your case, when a postal clerk or carrier notices obvious damage, they usually will place the damaged piece in a plastic bag with a note explaining the likely cause of the damage.
In cases of severe damage, the recipient is advised to contact the sender and explain the situation. Most are usually willing to send a replacement, Gonzales said.
“Customers with damaged parcels, on the other hand, can file a claim to seek monetary compensation from the Postal Service if the parcel was sent with insurance or was sent via Express Mail,” he said.
Claims can be filed at a post office or online at USPS.com. For more information, call 800-275-8777.
“The Postal Service nationwide processes 550 million pieces of mail a day, and unfortunately, during the course of the mail’s journey through a complex network of man, machines and planes, ships and trucks, some pieces are damaged,” Gonzales said.
Question: Over a year ago there was a restructuring of mail carriers and routes in our area, Kaimuki/Palolo. Our regular carrier was relocated, and since then our MidWeeks, magazines and packages seem to be taking longer to be delivered. I notice that our carrier tends to walk the deliveries. I think this wonderful for saving gas and for exercise, but is this also the reason for the delay in getting certain mail, as she is not able to carry it all? Someone once told me that certain periodicals were considered nonpriority mail and that the carrier can shelve them until he/she is ready to deliver them. Is that true?
Answer: Although MidWeek normally is delivered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, its specific delivery time and date depends on many factors, including when a post office receives the publication, said Duke Gonzales, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.
Other variables include the volume of other mail to be delivered, whether a regular or substitute carrier is delivering a particular route, and the specific location of a delivery point along a route.
It is possible that in this case your address used to be at the beginning of a route but now is at the end of that same route, Gonzales said.
Or, it may be that the previous carrier had received help from another carrier, which is no longer available, he said.
In any case, he suggests you bring up your concern with the new carrier. If that isn’t possible, he advises contacting the manager of the post office that serves your neighborhood, which would be the Waialae-Kahala station.
Auwe
To whoever stole a backpack worth of items from my luggage that I was taking back to my family on a Hawaiian Airlines flight in December. These items were Sanrio Hello Kitty items that were still in their original packaging dating as far back as 1976. You went into my luggage and even had the nerve to open up a USPS priority mail envelope that was sealed. TSA said that they did not open up my luggage. These items are nonreplaceable and vintage items. You probably gave these away as Christmas gifts to make yourself look good. Shame on you for taking something that did not belong to you. — Anonymous
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