Navigating our log cabin

Published 2:11 pm Wednesday, June 24, 2015

I have been a proud Auburn resident for about 49 years and in the last 10 years, a heavy user of the Post Office.

I must admit I would rather drive the extra length to go to the Sumner Post Office rather than deal with the Auburn Post Office for the simplest of tasks.

I look at the other Post Offices that have been built while the log cabin we call a Post Office continues to stumble along.

It has been about five years since the mail drop inside the Post Office to the left has had a usable handle. Once the metal handle broke off, it went months without repair and then it was replaced with two wooden knobs that were not even installed correctly.

The door binds and you can barely get it to open. The one on the right is always in service but gets overused because the great repair job never worked on the other side. The oversized rolling drum was broken for months before it was fixed.

A while back, vandals and thieves broke into the drive-thru box, and it was out of service for months. The parking lot was repaired so well recently that you almost had to have a vehicle alignment when driving through it. My hats off to whomever made the correct fix, and the pot holes have finally disappeared.

The left door closer squeaks so bad that I will bring down my own can of WD40 to make the repair.

That is just the exterior issues.

The inside mailbox lobby seldom, if ever, is fully supplied with priority boxes, yet when I go to other Post Offices around the area it seems someone is always restocking the shelves.

If you are foolish enough to go and wait in the line to do business at the counter, you will soon find you are watching two people working at the counter. Not sure where the rest of them are but certainly not offering customer service.

Often, I have oversize packages that are processed and ready to go. I weave my way through the 25 customers standing in line to get to the far right counter only to find it piled high with packages and nowhere to set mine. The reason I have to go into the lobby is that the large rolling mail drop is usually plugged from someone not taking the time to clear it out.

I must admit they have made the lobby a little larger so that more people can stand inside the doors, but I am afraid that is about the only upgrade they have made to the Log Cabin Post Office in Auburn.

I keep hearing the Postal Service is separate from the federal government. However, it is obvious they are trained by our efficient and effective House of Representatives and Senate.

Nothing is getting done in Washington, D.C., and nothing is getting done at the local Post Office.

To my fellow citizens of Auburn, may I suggest a nice ride to Sumner?

– Jim Price