Chat with Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney about the postal world and about the need to maintain a downtown post office.

12345

I receive neighbor’s mail in my box quite often, too. Can I just drop it back in outgoing mail slot, or do I need to note on the envelope that it was misdelivered?

rhd99

Ms. Raney, what is being done to ensure that mail does not go to the wrong addresses, especially that which could contain sensitive information? Thank you.

Moderator

Good afternoon readers. I’m Dennis Anderson, managing editor of the Lawrence Journal-World. I will be moderating today’s chat with Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney. Welcome, Postmaster Raney.

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

good afternoon Dennis. I am pleased to partnering with the Lawrence Journal World to try to answer questions from your readers.

Dayna38

How much of the town’s postal business would you say Dillon’s and other “sub stations” do vs. actual post offices?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Dayna–the Contract Postal Units such as Dillon’s and Hy-Vee do about 18-21% of our postal revenue in Lawrence.

limpetlives

I know that we all like to take the day off on Sunday and enjoy the weekend. Wouldn’t opening the post office and all postal operations on Sundays generate jobs and commerce?

macon47

The Jayhawk post office is great. But
why can i go in on monday
morning and find only one clerk
with a very long line. But on Wednesday morning I go in
and find 3 clerks looking at
each other. The clerks are great, but I wonder about the scheduling?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

I am not sure that it would generate additional commerce. I think that it would just spread the commerce over 7 days instead of 6 days. Nationally, we have done studies on the number of delivery days and retail days but have not received responses that would indicate a need for Sunday service of any sort.

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Thank you for your commendation on the Jayhawk retail clerks—I, too, think that they are great. We have admittedly had days when we did not have the staffing that we would prefer to have for retail service. Frequently it is because we have an unscheduled absence by an employee. During summer months when we have high annual leave with employees, we do struggle to cover all aspects of our operations appropriately. Temporary help for the post office is quite a bit more complicated for hiring than your average business due to security checks and other qualifying tests. On the average, it takes us 6-8 weeks to hire a temporary employee and they can only be employed for 89 days. We do review our scheduling every day to maximize our resources.

hipper_than_hip

I moved a year ago, and recently for some reason my mail is being re-routed back to my old address. My address is correct as printed on the envelope, but there’s a big yellow post office sticker sending it back to my old address. We’re talking about my paycheck, my bank statements, etc. They were all informed last year of my change in address, and they were properly delivered before, but the post office has started, within the last couple of months, of sending them to my old address. I’ve called the post office, but it keeps happening. Who exactly do I need to talk to in order to get this fixed?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

I recommend that you call 1-800-ask-usps to register your problem. It will send an email to the appropriate post office of delivery and require that they contact you within two days to resolve your problem.

stater1977

I recieve my neighbor’s mail in my box about once a month or so. Should I report that? Is there an acceptable error rate?

grubesteak

Since the U.S. Postal Service is now debt-free, will this mean an end to rate increases in stamps?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

We do not have an established error rate and I feel that once a month is too frequent. Please report it to us so that we can get it corrected.

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Unfortunately, rate increases will not disappear although we do try to keep them to every 4 years or so. The cost of energy, particularly gasoline, has a huge impact on the postal service. It cost the postal service about $8 million dollars every time gas goes up a penny. We have one of the largest fleet of vehicles in the world. Our other problem continues to be that Congress has mandated that the Postal Service pay the military retirement for all veterans in the postal service. That is a burden that no other government agency or private industry has to carry. Military retirement pay is supposed to be funded by the Department of the Treasury and you are taxed for those monies. Requiring the postal service to pay military retirement is much like taxing you twice.

Moderator

A question from me. How important is it to maintain a downtown post office in Lawrence?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

I believe that it is imperative that downtown Lawrence continue to have a post office. Whether that postal presence is a retail function only with delivery from another site remains to be seen. But, it will always be important to have retail service, post office boxes and a bulk mail entry unit in the downtown area.

ruskastud

Why is it that your neighborhood mail carriers are so nice, and some post office workers aren’t? I have found this to be true everywhere, not just Lawrence…

Is it some kind of requirement that the nicer they are, the less contact they are allowed to have with the public?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Actually, we hope that all of our employees are nice whether they work with the public every day or not. I think that our retail associates have a very difficult job. They are constantly dealing with customers for 8 hours a day who do not necessarily understand mailing requirements. So, they educate and sell which is not an easy task.

Moderator

We received a call today from a reader concerned about her bill payments taking more than a week to reach their destination, causing her to have to pay late fees. How long should it take for a first-class letter mailed from Lawrence to reach, say, New York City?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

The standard for mail to the East and West coasts is 3 days. Testing done by outside companies show that nationally we are at about 96% in consistently making that standard.

redsunrising

The neighborhood postal box was turned around in my area. The explanation given was that the box was on the wrong side of the street and it was dangerous for people to have to get out of their cars in the middle of the streetand there was no sidewalk. Well, we still have to get out in the middle, step up on the curb and walk through our neighbors’ grass to get to our mailboxes now. And being somewhat disabled, I have been going for my mail in my car about every other day because I could pull up facing the wrong way on our little travelled street and retrieve my mail and send outgoing mail. Now I have to get out of my car, in the middle of the street, step up a curb, difficult at best, and walk through the grass to get my mail. While I am in the process of applying for doorside delivery, the whole thing still makes no sense to me and seems to punish those of us who are unable because of physical health to get into and out of our cars easily or something as simple as stepping up a curb. Even the carrier is punished by this. Will it stay this way and what really is gained by it?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Usually when we turn a box as you described, it is because acustomer or employee of the postal service has brought the unsafe factor to our attention. We do not want customers standing in the street to retrieve mail as it is not safe. There was no intent to “punish” anyone with physical limitations. We do have a process for customers with phyical limitations and I invite you to call the post office to discuss it with us.

Moderator

What is the most common misconception people have aboout the post office?

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

I would guess that people think that we keep a list of customer names with customer addresses. That is not true and we only have addresses in our datbase.

Moderator

This has been a lively chat. Thank you, readers, for your questions, and to the Postmaster for her answers.

Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney

Thanks to all for your questions and interest in the postal service. Please feel free to call me anytime you have questions.