Hot Pursuit

Beyond frustration.
That pretty much sums up my feelings toward the U.S. Postal Service after the past three weeks of our newspapers going AWOL. 
At the beginning of the month, the newspapers for Owatonna subscribers began showing up several days late at the Owatonna Post Office. The postal service is a key component in our delivery method of getting the newspaper into the hands of our readers. But for some reason they’re failing—miserably.
Last week was yet the third straight time the papers failed to come on Wednesday. I was informed that half showed up Friday and the other half finally on Saturday. This is absurd, especially considering we mail all Owatonna papers in one cart. I would like to know who’s messing with our papers.
Though I’m not crazy about our delivery system, I’m stuck with the process put in place by the postal service. The papers first come to Blooming Prairie before being shipped to Rochester, then up to the Twin Cities and back down to Owatonna. It makes me get dizzy thinking about what happens to the papers before they finally get into the hands of our readers.
For our annoyed readers, which I totally understand, I’d like to point out the problem is not with the Owatonna Post Office or Blooming Prairie or Rochester where they are shipped to prior to being sent into postal no-zone land. The local postal officials have tried to be helpful, but there is only so much they can do. The problem appears to lie with the postal distribution center in Eagan where the majority of all our mail is sorted. 
This is where my frustration really begins to set in. No one wants to take accountability for what’s happening. We have made several calls and sent e-mails to top postal officials in the Twin Cities about this nagging problem only to be basically blown off. They won’t even return messages. 
I finally made contact with the consumer affairs division of the postal service last Friday to launch my complaint about its shoddy service. They assured me they would get to the bottom of it. Guess what? As of Monday morning, I still have not heard back from consumer affairs either. I guess I shouldn’t expect anything differently.
This whole ordeal has taught me that the postal service appears to have major problems that most postal employees, at least those who call the shots, don’t seem to care about. Their service is lousy. The fact that they don’t seem concerned is even more troubling and baffling.
I appreciate our readers who have been more than understanding about the dilemma we’re in. I assure you we are working feverishly to get this resolved so that the papers will show up on Wednesday when they’re supposed to. 
I’m tired of the postal blues at our expense. Maybe it’s time to go back to the pony express days. It couldn’t be any worse, could it? 
It’s time for me to get cracking in hot pursuit of solving this postal caper. Stay tuned.