WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — While service level problems including delivery delays is not exclusive the Ferndale Post Office (PO), it and its customers appear to currently be suffering the most as delivery customers find themselves without delivery service for days and are waiting an hour or more to pick up the mail and packages that would have been delivered.
Ferndale PO customers have been complaining about deliveries not being made and when they go to the Ferndale PO to inquire, it can take an hour or more to learn if the items can be located or not.
For many, the full parking lot and an extended line of customers came as a surprise. A customer who showed up to claim a certified letter told Whatcom News. “I do not know who the certified letter is from, and I cannot afford to wait an hour away from my work to find out.”
Other Whatcom County post offices are seeing and have seen similar challenges.
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Click for more informationWhatcom News was told the Lynden PO recently has mostly recovered after being in a similar state when its postmaster retired unexpectedly in June of 2021.
A carrier annex building was recently built in Lynden to service trucks and mail distribution operations. There is no customer service store at the carrier annex.
“It has gotten better,” Whatcom News was told by a business customer, “but when there is only 1 person in the office, delivery to post office boxes take a back seat to the customer service counter.”
The Acme PO has been reportedly reducing its customer service levels as well. A business customer told Whatcom News it was recently announced that due to a staffing shortage, the post office would temporarily be opened only until 11am, instead of the typical 4pm closing time.
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Click for more informationWhatcom News was told Lynden customers filed about 170 “Help with a Federal Agency” complaints with Washington District 1 US Representative Suzan DelBene’s office which was attributed to having a positive impact on resolving problems.
“Now Hiring” posters were visible at several of the Whatcom County PO locations Whatcom News visited today, July 25th.
A survey of online services commonly used by job seekers, including CraigsList and WorkSourceWA, found no recent job postings for local mail carrier positions. Another service, Indeed, did show job postings for the Lynden and Blaine POs, noting that they had been posted over 30 days ago.
Washington 42nd District State Senator Simon Sefzik told a group of Ferndale PO customers complaining on Facebook that DelBene’s office is aware of problems at the Ferndale PO and “has caseworkers on this issue.” He added, there is “not much that can be done to address the issue immediately.”
Not only does the problem not appear to be primarily around the Ferndale PO, but it also appears to be impacting postal service in other states. Staff shortages appear to be the primary reason for the low service levels and staffing shortages in turn create more workloads and extended schedules for those who are working, resulting in higher turnover rates.
