Letter: What is becoming of U.S. Postal Service?

To the editor:

The United States Postal Service has changed some services in our area, and the time of delivery has been very erratic, sometimes not arriving until after dark. When inquiring at the post office about the changes, they indicated that they were short on drivers and were finding it difficult to locate qualified applicants.

Sometimes the delivery service is very slow. My brother mailed me a birthday card. He lives about 40 miles away. The card arrived one week later. I once sent myself a letter; placed it in a drop box about one mile from where I live. Five days later the letter arrived. I had almost forgotten what I had written myself.

I once mailed a time-sensitive payment and knew it was in the drop box prior to the pick-up time. I was penalized for a late payment. Apparently the mail had already been picked up that day. A $25 lesson learned. At times, early service is not good either.

A local drop box has a 2 p.m. posted pick up time. Last week, 15 minutes prior, I went to drop off some mail. The USPS employee was already gathering the mail. I waited in the parking lot to see if the employee waited until 2 p.m. for more mail. At 12 minutes prior to 2, the employee got in a truck and drove off. Early pick-up service, but too bad for anyone leaving mail at 1:59 p.m.

To USPS, please do not pick up mail from drop boxes prior to the stated pick up time. If the time may be earlier, change the posted time. Might be better to pick up mail a few minutes after the posted time rather than earlier than the posted time.

Is the day soon coming that a more dependable type of delivery service will be available for first class and special mail? Ponies, pigeons, drones? Will the USPS someday be delivering only junk mail? Maybe every other day? What will the USPS look like 25 years from now? I could mail myself a prediction, but at my age, the letter may not arrive before I’m gone.

Dick Huber

Greenwood