In the midst of a rapid population explosion it isn’t just the private sector businesses and community members who are struggling to adjust to a constantly changing Sidney. The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing major growing pains of its own as it struggles to keep up with a constantly expanding residential landscape with more growth on the way.
“In the future we plan to adjust our routes to allow them to better fit our needs for delivery. It will be a continual process but the difficulty is that we have protocol to follow and that process can be lengthy. Despite what we may want to do, we can’t just adjust as needed,” said Brandi Lien, postmaster.
With four city mail carriers, the average route consists of some 800 addresses. Mail carriers, who work an average of six days a week, currently are logging some 50 and 60 hours a week in an effort to get the mail delivered.
To make the challenges of having new residents popping up on a daily basis more challenging, all of the carriers have been employed as transitional employees for less than six months. With an all new crew of carrier employees, they are trying to learn the basics of their new career while adjusting to a landscape in constant flux.
Richland County Planner Marcy Hamburg said there are a number of subdivisions proposed and conditionally approved that will potentially add more addresses to the routes.
Currently, Sunrise Village is a proposed subdivision located in the northeast corner of town and includes a 182 lot subdivision with 100 residential homes and six buildings each consisting of 160 apartments.
Another proposed subdivision includes North View, with 31 multifamily lots located between the justice center and County Road 350. The Mayo Subdivision also includes 31 multifamily and single residential homes in the northwest area of the city near the golf course. A separate, five lot commercial subdivision has also been proposed.
A minor subdivision request includes one to five lots while a major subdivision request involves six or more lots.
“The applications have doubled from the previous year. Before, the applications were split between certificates of surveys and minor subdivisions. Now, we have had more major subdivision application requests,” said Hamburg.
Troy Green, a postal employee with 15 years of experience, has been on loan to the Sidney office for about six months from Wolf Point helping to train new carriers. “A few years ago, you had routes that were the same for years and years but now people are creating new residences in basements and parking campers in driveways and it has made it extremely difficult to accurately deliver the mail. All of our neighborhood collection boxes are full and we are waiting for concrete so more can be installed,” Green said.
Mail clerks are also making some adjustments. For Rachael Leininger, 27, an employee of just over a year, working up the mail to prepare it for dispatch has been a constantly increasing effort as more mail is arriving on the dock each morning and leaving with the nightly dispatch.
Five years ago, the box addressed section was comprised of some 580 addresses. Today, there are 1,150 with only some 350 empty boxes left. On average, up to 10 people per week are coming in and opening new boxes whereas it used to be an infrequent occurrence that happened several times a month. Once those boxes are filled, a waiting list will start for people who want to use a post office box number for an address rather than receive street delivery.
For customers who have grown accustomed to waiting in long lines to mail packages and purchase stamps, the newly installed Automated Postal Center is allowing more patrons to do their own mailing. The APC is located in the lobby and available 24 hours a day to better accommodate people unable to get to the post office during normal business hours.
For new residents, the postal service requests that Change of Address forms are filled out if they were not completed in their former place of residence. If mail is delivered that does not belong to you, it is best to leave the mail in your mailbox with a note stating the mail is not yours. When mailing packages it is also helpful to use the delivery confirmation service to better track when your package was received.
If you live outside of town you need the county to verify you have the correct address. Once you notify the postal service, they will activate that delivery point and you will begin receiving mail.
“People don’t realize how difficult it is to learn thousands of addresses. One of the problems we find is that people who have lived here for a long time assume we know where it should go and don’t address their mail correctly. Another challenge is the fact that many people don’t know what their address is supposed to be. Being just one digit off can really make a huge difference in whether or not the mail gets delivered correctly,” Lien said.
Some of the delivery confusion stems from the towns use of streets and avenues and directions such as NE, NW, SE and SW. Mail that comes misaddressed with these inaccuracies is difficult to deliver accurately.
This year’s record breaking milder temperatures have made it easier for carriers to make deliveries without having to deal with the elements and deep snow. ”The weather has been fantastic for us. It has been really helpful with giving the new people more time to learn their craft and get accustomed to the physical demands of the job without snow like we had last year and the freezing temperatures,” Lien stated.
For more information contact the postal service at 406-482-2107.
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