ALTON - Alton’s Rick Hornsey and some other residents are wondering what they missed after receiving a letter from the U.S. Postal Service informing them of an incident resulting in missing and/or damaged mail.
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It is confirmed that at least one day’s worth of mail was not delivered to the intended recipients. The mail delivery carrier responsible for the situation has been removed.
It is estimated that about 400 customers in Alton were affected by the delivery issue, which appears to have occurred on only Jan. 23. The Alby and Lindenwood areas in Alton received a letter informing them of what had happened from the United States Postal Service.
Hornsey, who lives off Alby and 22nd Street in Alton, said he was greatly bothered by the mail not being delivered and had concerns on what mail he was missing.
“I don’t think this should happen,” Hornsey said. “What I was told from the people at the post office was this was a relief person. We have a good mailman, who is the regular person on the route.”
With it being tax season, residents are concerned about the missing documents containing personal information.
“I could be missing a tax document or credit card information, so it does bother me,” said Hornsey. “I feel the Postal Service is supposed to be trusted. I think people get disillusioned with the service more and more because of incidents like this. The Postal Service needs to do better background checks on people.”
A letter was sent out to postal customers from the postmaster that read as follows:
“It is with regret that I inform you the Alton Post Office recently discovered that some mail intended for delivery to Alton residents during the past 90 days may have been disposed or destroyed. This mail may include tax documents, banking and credit card statements, invoices and other important information.
“The U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General (OIG), an independent agency within the Postal Service, has made every effort to salvage as much of the mail as possible and is currently investigating the serious incident. Be assured that federal penalties are imposed on anyone tampering with the mail.”
The carrier that is being investigated for the missing mail is a woman, who appeared to be overwhelmed by the mail carrier position. The woman was apparently a fill-in person on the route and not the regular mail carrier.
A Postal Service person said she hopes if the relief carrier is proven to be responsible for the missing mail an example should be made of her situation because it is a federal offense.
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