Letter: Postal service delays caused by management, not rank-and-file workers

Barbara Oberg asks one of life’s big questions, “Why do postal letters have to go to Spokane and back?” (TCH, Jan. 3)

In Walla Walla, I wondered likewise, why my letter was shipped to the Tri-Cities to be sorted and then sent back.

Imagine when the news arrived that Tri-Cities mail-sorting, too, would be handled in Spokane! Did anyone feel our lives improved on one more consolidation? Did anyone from Washington, D.C., ask?

But the USPS wasn’t through: Inland Empire’s act of God caved roofs, snapped power lines and, yep, sorting shifted west, to Seattle. Had Seattle flooded, where next the sorting? Honolulu?

I don’t find the trouble with the rank-and-file carriers and those super-friendly folks behind the counter. They on the front lines not only keep their appointed rounds, but are also the flak-catchers for complaints.

Who decides on local operations like sorting? Someone in a dimly lit office somewhere, who carries the standard we all know as the Peter Principle.

Anyone think the old system will be back anytime soon? Me, neither.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Letter: Postal service delays caused by management, not rank-and-file workers."