Auburn Gresham Woman Fit To Be Tied With No Mail For More Than A Month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some Auburn Gresham neighborhood residents have been without mail for more than a month – and even in temperatures well below freezing, there is a line of people outside the Post Office there waiting and looking for their mail.
One woman from Auburn Gresham reached out to us at her wit's end. The woman, Barbara Brown, told CBS 2's Tara Molina she has been to the Post Office eight times trying to get mail.
Instead, she got no answers, and no mail either. Molina was asking the U.S. Postal Service why on Tuesday.
"This is ridiculous," Brown said. "Nobody is telling you nothing!"
Brown said she has had it. She wants an honest response from the Postal Service.
"Don't just say your mail carriers is out when you know they're not out," Brown said.
Brown emailed CBS 2 begging for help.
"We haven't gotten anything at all," she said.
A home caregiver, Brown relies on her mail to pay her bills. But she said she has not seen a piece of it in her Auburn Gresham neighborhood for more than a month.
"Your finances and stuff is being tied up in the mail," she said. "People are waiting on mail to pay their rent, feed their family and their children - and nobody is getting mail over here."
Brown said that is why you'll find a line outside the Auburn Park Post Office at 8345 S. Ashland Ave. all day long.
"It's minus one outside," she said. "You stand in long lines just for them to tell you that the mail hasn't been processed."
Molina asked USPS what is going on here now after intermittent service issues we have investigated for months.
USPS spokesman Tim Norman did not address all of our questions, but did say they have a staff shortage at the Auburn Park location right now - with weather only making that more difficult:
"We apologize for the disruption in service at the Post Office Station located at 8345 S. Ashland. We have experienced staff shortages at this location and are currently using available resources to match the workload created by the impacts of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This includes bringing in extra resources at this location. We have also been challenged by the recent accumulation of snow in our region and ask customers to keep the approaches to their mailboxes clear of ice and snow. We appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis.
"Mail delivery is ongoing from the Auburn Park location. We encourage customers that have a concern with their mail delivery, questions about specific pieces of mail, and or other service issues to contact their local Postal station or our Consumer Affairs office at 312-983-8403. The Postal Service will diligently continue to investigate customer's concerns and correct deficiencies to improve service to our communities."
That is not a good enough answer for Brown.
"Get some volunteers in there! Teach some people how to sort the mail," she said. "But do something."
Brown told us she'd rather go pick up her own mail than continue to wait for service. CBS 2 reported earlier Tuesday that some residents of a building in Edison Park have been advised they have to do just that.
The USPS spokesman denied that was ever an option, even though CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov was told otherwise.
