BELGRADE — Continued mishaps of missing mail in Belgrade have residents wondering—is there a solution?
"We get Informed Delivery that tells us we should be getting mail and for 12 days now, since November 9th, we've had absolutely nothing," says Jeffery Bennett, a Belgrade resident.
Bennett has lived and worked in Montana his whole life, and he says he's no stranger to mail service issues.
"This is pretty regular. I mean, it’s not uncommon to have a day or two, here or there, that we don’t get mail. But 12 days in a row is unusual. There’s something going on," he says.
Bennett says he uses a service called Informed Delivery that tells him his letters and packages have arrived in Belgrade but sit at the post office undelivered.
"I can tell by the Informed Delivery that a lot of them are maybe checks in the mail, they’re bills that need to be paid. And I can’t pay the bill, things like property taxes should be here and I can’t pay them until I know what to pay," says Bennett.
He says even outgoing mail will remain in the mailbox for days, red flag up, waiting to be picked up.
"I certainly won’t put that back in the mail and send it out. I'll take it out, hand deliver to pay because I just don’t trust it anymore," Bennett says.
I walked into the Belgrade post office, hoping to talk with a manager. They weren’t able to provide much information—but while I was there, at least three other people standing in line made similar complaints.
The front desk attendant responded that they’re understaffed and have two couriers out to try and get things figured out.
Bennett says, "They need to get more people. They told me they've had some career fair things, and nobody shows up. I’m sure that’s frustrating to them, and me."
He says he’d like to see some competition—trusting UPS and FedEx more to get the job done.
"If they would allow that to be privatized and have some competition—if they can't handle it, maybe somebody else could and we could get our mail," says Bennett.
A statement by USPS officials says, "A contract was awarded for this route on November 12th, but it was not fulfilled by the contractor. We are currently in the process of awarding the contract to another provider. In the meantime, the route is being covered by personnel from around the region and the Belgrade office. Although there has been some inconsistency on some delivery days, the assertion that customers have gone 12 days without delivery is not supported by the data. Mail is current and we are working to stabilize the staffing situation. We apologize for the inconsistent service and expect service to improve in the coming days."
