Apparently, 'Neither Rain Nor Snow' Means Little At One Bronx Post Office

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- People in the Bronx are complaining mail delivery has become undependable in good weather and bad.

We've all done it – checked the mail only to find nothing there.

But the empty black hole in the mailbox has been a recurring disappointment in parts of the Bronx, most notably in Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill, and Van Cortlandt Village, CBS 2's Lou Young reported Tuesday.

One building in Riverdale hadn't seen a delivery or had a mail pick-up since the middle of last week.

"I'm expecting medicine from last week. It hasn't arrived. I've mailed bills. It's still sitting there because it hasn't been picked up since last Wednesday," Riverdale resident Jerry Friedman said.

"It's not only our building; it's the whole block and why should everybody go without mail? There's got to be an answer to this," Riverdale resident Sylvia Laske added.

CBS 2's Young tried getting an answer at the main post office for the zip code -- the place was jammed like the last mailing day before Christmas. One local lawmaker said the lack of mail delivery is part of a pattern.

"They don't have enough people, apparently. Either that or they just can't manage the people that they have. People do not get mail delivery when it snows. Sometimes you don't get mail delivery in the sun. They don't deliver the mail in 10463," said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx.

CBS 2's Young confronted one mailman serving a building that was getting its first delivery in six days.

"I got no idea what you're talking about," the mailman said.

No letter carrier will talk for the record. Privately they have admitted there just aren't enough of them to do the job at Bronx post office in question.

The local postmaster also would not comment, but the assemblyman and the congressman for the impacted area, Elliot Engle, have a meeting with the Bronx postmaster on Wednesday afternoon. The post office, meanwhile, officially blames the lack of delivery on the weather.

"Carriers make an attempt to deliver the mail," a spokesman told Young. "And it all comes down to safety. If safety becomes an issue some mail will be curtailed."

"I'm 85 years old and as I remember the mail went through regardless of the weather," Friedman said.

Or as they used to say, "Neither rain nor snow ..."

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