The U.S. Postal Service is coming under fire locally for what some customers say is bad service.

Count Craig Plokhooy of Groves among the dissatisfied.

He sent his first emailed complaint to the USPS on Nov. 7 after not receiving mail for several days one week. He was assured things would improve. They didn’t.

He listed off some recent problems:

• He and his wife received three different issues of People magazine — it’s a weekly publication — in one day.
• His wife’s blood pressure medication isn’t always delivered on time.
• Once he received correspondence at 7:53 p.m. saying the mail couldn’t be delivered because it was an “unsecured location.”

“I’ve been getting mail at that location for 30-plus years,” Plokhooy said. His wife called him the next morning, a Sunday, to let him know the mail was delivered.

“It was the same mailbox they said was unsecured the night before,” he said.

So far he has sent multiple emails to the postal service and spent two hours and 10 minutes on hold waiting to talk to someone before he had to hang up. Another time he spent an hour and 45 minutes on hold before giving up.

“I never got an answer,” he said.

Pat Francis of Groves said he also experienced mail delivery problems. He wasn’t happy when The Port Arthur News switched to mail delivery because he preferred to read his paper in the morning but said he knows people must adapt to change.

Then he noticed he wasn’t getting his newspaper on occasion. Now he’s had problems receiving packages.

But not all of Groves are having postal service delivery problems. Don Sodman said he couldn’t be prouder of his mail carrier.

“I don’t know my mail carrier but every afternoon my mailbox has mail,” Sodman said. “Amazon packages are being delivered on time like it was years ago.”

Cynthia Solberg of Groves is also pleased with her mail service, she said.

Changes may be coming

The Port Arthur News became aware of the issue months ago when the business switched from carrier delivery to mail delivery. On Friday, publisher Rich Macke met in Houston with regional directors, postmasters and other USPS officials. He learned of recent changes, such as replacements for postmasters in Groves and Nederland. New guidelines are being put in place, a Port Arthur postmaster told him, that will positively affect delivery in Port Acres.

“My whole issue is getting them to understand the impact the poor service has on our operation,” Macke said. “For years people have said this is an ongoing problem and having the newspaper become part of the process now has brought out how bad the inconsistences are. We are seeing how bad it is and we feel we need to help fix the problem, not just for the newspaper.”

Macke said he is “cautiously optimistic” — he has worked with the USPS closely for the past three months — and things are getting better gradually. It’s important the USPS understands the gravity of the issue.

“Our customers are their customers as well,” he said.

The next step is involving the federal government.

“We have had conversations with Congressman Randy Weber’s staff and they are waiting to see the outcome of this meeting (Friday) before they get involved,” he said, adding Weber may file for a federal investigation into local mail service.

The outlook isn’t all dismal, though.

“I have had some of our customers in Port Arthur, since this change was put in place, say their mail delivery is the best it’s ever been. There are areas that are good and areas that are not good,” he said. “The ones that are not good are the ones we’re focusing on. I do feel much better today (Friday) after the meeting in Houston.”

The Port Arthur News is a periodical publication and by law must be delivered on its publication day. Over 60 percent of newspapers the same size as The News are delivered by mail, he said.

 USPS: Call us

Kanickewa “Nikki” Johnson, a Postal Service spokeswoman, did not answer specific questions, but suggested unhappy customers should contact their local Post Office, call 1 800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) or visithttps://www.usps.com.help for help.