Community Corner

Got Mail? Delivery Service Slowly Returns in Novi

Novi residents say they are starting to get their mail from the U.S. Postal Service after not receiving it since Saturday.

U.S. Postal Service letter carriers have been heading out every day despite the severe cold and negative wind-chills

Although some Novi residents received their mail, many have not gotten it delivered since Saturday.

"Any news about when mail delivery will resume in Novi? Our street was plowed on Monday, but no mail since Sat. Jan. 4," Karen Wang wrote on Novi Patch's Facebook page

The recent winter storm and severe cold left piles of snow and layers of ice on Novi's streets. Novi Patch reader Denise Michele DeBussey-Katajamaki said she did not receive her mail since Saturday either. 

"Right now my 86 year old neighbor is out shoveling snow by her mail box. They plowed but just down the middle, not the sides. That snow is heavy we need the plow to clean the street better!" she told Novi Patch via Facebook.

Others wrote that their mail arrived Thursday, the first time since Saturday.

Postal service chooses delays over risking carriers' safety

Ed Moore, U.S. Postal Service spokesperson for metro Detroit, said snow and ice are the problem. He said letter carriers have not stopped their deliveries but uncleared or icy paths to mailboxes are inhibiting them. 

"They're carrying an extra 50 pound bag on their shoulders and trying to balance that while holding mail in their hands," he said. 

Moore said carriers don't want to bring the mail back because that adds to their deliveries for the next day. However, if there is no improvement to the conditions, delivery delays will continue. Curbside delivery is also getting delayed. Carriers doing curbside delivery are not supposed to step out of their vehicle to deliver the mail, he said. If windrows are blocking access to the mailbox, carriers will take the mail back to the post office.

"The safety of the letter carrier is the most important thing," he said. "They are not to risk injury."

It can only get better if people shovel their snow 

The solution to the delivery delays? Grab a shovel, Moore said.

"I would even encourage our customers to be neighborly," he said. "If you have an elderly neighbor or know someone who is disabled, shovel a path to their mail."

It's a community effort, he said, because sometimes a homeowner will properly clear a path but mail will still be delayed if the rest of the street is impassable. 

"We recognize that customers want their mail and need their mail and we want to provide that service to them," he said. 

For those expecting an important delivery in the mail, they'll have to be patient. Moore said there is no system for people to come to the post office in search of their mail unless they have a post-office box. 

What is the mail situation like near you? Post a comment below.


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