Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 115, No. 08	February 20, 2008

Snow and ice could delay postal delivery

Photos by Sandra Stone
From 70 degrees and a tornado on Feb. 5 to 17 degrees and snow and ice just six days later – what a difference a week makes when you live in Kentucky.

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

Winter weather can cause headaches, not only for homeowners, but for the local mail carriers.

Brandenburg Postmaster Sue Milburn urged area residents to keep the box pathways clear, or else the post office will be unable to deliver their mail.

“A lot of times when the snow plows come through they push the mounds up to the boxes and we can’t get through,” Milburn said. “It also freezes and becomes hard. The carriers are not allowed now to back up and they are not allowed to get out of the vehicle.”

“If there is snow in the way, there would be no way for the carrier to get to (the box),” she said.

Milburn acknowledged that they would like to give personalized service for individual customers, but when each route averages 500 people, that becomes impossible.

Milburn acknowledged at times the postal employees do go the extra mile, but if the area was not cleaned up to the mailbox they couldn’t do it for everyone.

According to Milburn, when the winter storm first struck last week, a total of 380 deliveries were unable to be made. That number later decreased to 50, she said, adding most of them were due to the fact vehicles couldn’t access the boxes.

“Some of the boxes also get knocked down by the snow plows, so those people have to wait for warmer weather before they can put them back up,” she said.

In this case, the post office will hold a person’s mail until such time as arrangements can be made to start delivering it again. Stopping the mail is relatively easy, Milburn said. Patrons can do so by visiting the United States Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com, they can fill out a form in the High Street office, or they can leave a note in their box.

“We can also take the requests over the phone, which we have done some recently,” Milburn said.

“If you call us we can hold it here,” she said. “Otherwise, the mail people will take it out every day as they are waiting to deliver it. When this happens, they won’t know until they get out there.”

Mail will be held at the post office until the customer tells them to start delivering again, or until the road is clear, Milburn said.

Rural carriers use their own vehicles to deliver mail, Milburn said, adding some makes are different than others.

“Some of the cars can actually push the snow and clear their own path, but a lot of that depends on the vehicle,” she said.

Click Here to Go Back