Residents telling their stories of missing mail and mistreatment by USPS

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is furious at the shoddy treatment of numerous of Brooklyn residents who are no longer receiving their mail due to a sudden change by a local postal branch. The Assemblyman met with more than a dozen residents on 46^th Street in Boro Park where he was told about elderly residents who are now being forced to stand on long lines at the 1200 51^st Street branch of the U.S. Post Office just to receive their medication and social security checks.

The residents were told by their local carrier that the mail slots on their doors were too low and that they would need new doors or be forced to affix outside mailboxes on their homes or rails.  The residents then received a letter from the Post Office branch manager of customer service stating that their carrier had brought the matter to her attention and, thus, mail delivery would cease unless the mailboxes were immediately “relocated.”

“Now residents have stopped receiving mail, elderly residents are being forced to wait on hour-long lines to receive vital mail, and some have been threatened that mail may be sent back to their points of origin,” explained Assemblyman Hikind. “This is outrageous. Many of these residents are elderly and rely upon their social security checks and medications being delivered to their homes on time, as they always were. Moreover, nearly all of the residents are concerned about attaching outside mailboxes that will expose their mail to theft and tampering, especially in this day and age of frequent identity theft.”

It was only last month that Reuters reported on the U.S. Postal Service losing $2 billion during its second quarter of the year, despite an increase in package revenues and an emergency price hike that took effect in January.

NYS Senator Simcha Felder and NYS Assemblyman Felix Ortiz joined Hikind in condemning this insensitive treatment of Brooklyn residents. “People rely upon the mail to be steady and dependable,” said Felder. “This situation has made it difficult for them to live normally and comfortably.”

“Many of these residents work during the hours that the local Post Office branch is open,” added Ortiz. “The post office is tasking them with an impossible situation or a very expensive remedy.”

In a letter to Brooklyn Postmaster Edward F. Roggenkamp, Hikind asked the postmaster to immediately address the postal branch at 1200 51st Street and “task them with completing their appointed rounds rather than set a precedent of punishing Brooklyn residents who only want their mail delivered, as it has always been, without incident.”