West side Detroiters say lagging US mail service has been 'hit or miss'

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Short-staffing may be to blame for spotty mail delivery in some Detroit neighborhoods.

"It’s terrible how they’re doing us," said Martina Johnson.

Johnson says it’s been hit or miss for her.

"We haven’t got our mail in two weeks," she said.

Johnson lives in the Warrendale area on Detroit’s west side and went to her post office on Joy Road near the Southfield freeway this weekend to pick up her mail and file a complaint.

"It was a bunch of people out there from this area who said they weren’t getting their mail either," she said.  "You know people were waiting on checks. Some people were waiting on medicine to come through the mail."

"I expect deliveries from the VA, medicine and when the mail doesn’t come on time and I don’t get my medicine, then I have problems," said Larry Jamison.

Jamison, an Army veteran who fought in the Korean War, says his mail delivery has been spotty too.

FOX 2 caught up with him at that same post office.

"That’s why I had to come down here and bring a letter because I want to get it to my granddaughter for her birthday and I didn’t want to put it in the mailbox because they may not pick it up," Jamison said.

The mail was picked up and delivered in Johnson's neighborhood late Monday afternoon.

The mailman says he’s never delivered in that area before. He works downtown but was called to chip in on the west side because the local post office is light on manpower.

FOX 2 spoke with an employee at the Joy Road post office who wished to anonymous.

"So we have 40 routes in there, on the average day we might have 15 people there or less," the employee said. "I have a lady who works two routes down from me: she hasn’t been here for a year. A whole year, nothing happens.

"Primarily the biggest cause of everything is being shorthanded, and the second biggest cause that angers customers is you have supervisors and other administrative people scanning packages that they were taking to somebody’s porch. And we left a note on their door when we didn’t. We didn’t do it."

The US Postal Service released a statement: 

"The postal service appreciates its customers and always strives to provide the best possible service to them. We apologize for any inconvenience that may be experienced by customers living in the Joyfield Station area in Detroit, Mi. we appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees as conditions change on a day-to-day basis."