FILE - In this Aug. 19, 2020, file photo, a person deposits mail in a box outside United States Post Office in Cranberry Township, Pa.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Audrey Long has started sending postcards to herself just to see what makes it back.
She slips each postcard into a United States Postal Service collection box only steps away from the coffee shop and ceramics studio she co-owns on Duane Street in downtown Astoria. She sent out the first postcard on Aug. 14 and only got it back several days ago.
Of the five postcards Long has sent herself so far, only two have come back to her. Meanwhile, packages full of products she ordered for her business that were supposed to be delivered in July didn’t show up until September. They arrived battered and smelling of mold. Paper mail isn’t arriving with any consistency and Long worries about late fees on bills she never received.
Across the street, tenants of the 40-unit Merwyn Apartments are also not regularly receiving mail. Nor is Astoria City Hall, next door to the apartments, where mail delivery delays have caused issues with utility billing. Farther along Duane Street, other businesses are also reporting missing mail and undelivered packages.
Meanwhile, the Astoria Post Office, located just a few blocks up and over from City Hall, has not provided any explanations.
Attempts by city officials and business advocates to meet with Astoria Postmaster Elizabeth Ivey in-person have failed. At one point, City Manager Scott Spence and the executive directors of the chamber of commerce and a downtown business association offered to meet Ivey while she was out delivering mail. They waited at the appointed street corner; she never showed up.
KMUN tried to contact Ivey multiple times without success. As of Friday, an inquiry KMUN sent to a spokesperson for USPS is still being reviewed.
But the situation has garnered attention from federal lawmakers. A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office told KMUN they are working with the offices of Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici to get answers and find possible solutions for Clatsop County.
“Rural communities rely on consistent and timely mail delivery to receive lifesaving prescription medications, pay bills and run small businesses,” the spokesperson for Merkley’s office said. “The timing of these issues is especially concerning as we approach the time the county will be mailing out ballots to voters.”
Ballots are due to start going out to out-of-state voters starting on Oct.5 and to in-state voters beginning Oct. 14. People who don’t receive a ballot can contact the county clerk’s office to get another.
Spence said the city is trying to better understand what constraints the local post office is under. He said it isn’t clear if the spotty mail delivery is due to a lack of staff or some other issue. He is hoping Merkley, Wyden and Bonamici’s offices can help facilitate an in-person meeting with Ivey or other Postal Service representatives.
Quinn Haase, the executive director for the Astoria Downtown Historical District Association, isn’t sure what will help change the situation and how much staffing levels at the post office are a factor. He said he’s aware Ivey has had to take on some delivery routes in the city herself and that the downtown stretch of Duane and Exchange Streets currently does not have a mail carrier assigned to it.
“My worry and fear here is that if it’s interrupting commerce in Astoria, it’s going to affect the entire town, economically,” Haase said.
It is already impacting Long’s coffee shop, Cambium, and her ceramics studio. Long said they aren’t able to order certain supplies wholesale without a business address to deliver to, but since those packages no longer arrive — or arrive inconsistently — Long has had to make runs to Portland for things she can’t buy locally or shift to different products.
Long isn’t sure what to make of it all.
“I know that the people who are out delivering don’t have any answers,” she said, adding, “I don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know where my mail is … There’s a lot of small businesses and people affected by it and it’s not legal. Where is our mail?”
Katie Frankowicz is a reporter with KMUN. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
