Last Friday was Sheryl Gardiner’s last day at the Pacific Palisades post office. She served as officer in charge for slightly more than two months and, as of Tuesday afternoon, no one had reported to the office as her replacement. “We don’t have a postmaster yet,” said the person who answered the office phone at about 1 p.m. and who declined to give his name. “No one’s checked in yet.” Prior to her departure, Gardiner met with the Palisadian-Post on Friday morning to discuss postal service concerns and, specifically, the content of a Letter to the Editor addressing these issues, written by resident Kurt Toppel (“Community Leader Questions Local Postal Service Defense,” December 22). Toppel called Gardiner’s leadership “absentee management” and challenged several things she said in an earlier article (“Post Office Goes ‘Back to Basics’,” December 15). Most of the information he received came from postal employees who requested anonymity. “The anonymous source(s) provided him with some misinformation,” Gardiner said. “It’s based on limited knowledge; they don’t have the specifics of what’s going on.” In particular, she and Postal Service spokesman Larry Dozier said that there is no hiring freeze in effect. Dozier added that whether or not there is a hiring freeze “doesn’t depend on whether [postage] rates are going up,” as Toppel implied. “We’re raising the cost [in 2006] because we’re required by Congress. That has nothing to do with postal operations. That’s the law.” While Gardiner said she did not have any problems hiring three mail carriers in the last two months, she confirmed that they were temporary employees, as stated in Toppel’s letter, and that, in fact, all three were no longer working here. She would not give reasons for their departure but said she was not struggling to get the mail delivered with her current 43 carriers because the post office was at the end of the holiday season. “We’re reevaluating for post-holiday to see if additional staff will be needed.” Gardiner explained that she usually needs 41 carriers to handle mail delivery in the Palisades, though the number fluctuates depending on mail volume, which can be seasonal or situational. One carrier is assigned to each of the 28 routes in the Palisades, and there is one relief carrier for every five routes, plus five additional employees to cover for carriers during vacation. “Right now I have a few more than I’m scheduled to have,” Gardiner said. However, three of her employees are not working as carriers but rather as greeters at the La Cruz post office or the Sunset store. Sometimes they work as “lobby directors,” assisting customers who have questions. Supervisors Dennis Willis and Rory Ramos work mainly at the La Cruz facility while supervisor Tony Ficklin is stationed at the Sunset store. Willis arrives early to oversee the preparation of the mail for delivery. According to Gardiner, the trucks bringing mail to the post office begin arriving at about 4 a.m., which is when the clerks arrive to begin separating the mail into routes. The carriers then arrive at about 8 a.m. to sort mail by the sequence of their delivery route. In response to Toppel’s charge about the trucks from the Los Angeles Processing and Distribution Center often arriving in the Palisades after the scheduled 8:30 a.m. time, Gardiner said that “absolutely, they’re late sometimes.” However, she explained, the vehicle scheduled for 8:30 a.m. is called the “automation” truck because it carries mail that has already been sorted and, therefore, the carriers can put it right in their delivery trucks. (Continued on Page 6) “I’ve had it [arrive] after 9 a.m. without an impact on carriers,” Gardiner said. Then she added, “You’ll see trucks coming all day long; there’s certain standard mail that’s scheduled to arrive all day.” Dozier wanted to clarify Toppel’s assertion that “there is the mandatory transfer of all mail [from Pacific Palisades] to be processed downtown” before returning to the Palisades. “All mail has to be postmarked; this is a national system,” he said. The automated processing system downtown is also more cost-effective than having clerks process the mail by hand in the Palisades, according to a former post office employee. While the U.S. Postal Service is, indeed, a “quasi-government entity” as Toppel said, Gardiner replied: “The only thing we have a monopoly on is what goes into that mailbox.” She pointed to UPS and Internet services as other choices people have for receiving mail. Gardiner and Dozier did not deny that the Palisades is still experiencing problems with its mail delivery. “Sometimes mail is delivered after dark,” Dozier said. “We hope to correct that.” Generally speaking, he said that sometimes a carrier “might decide to go another way,” or deviate from his or her usual route, and the management plans to correct this by doing route examinations. Gardiner added, “I know that I have one particular area that does not have a regular carrier assigned. We’re still trying to stabilize [that area] with a consistent carrier.” Some of the affected streets in this area are Wildomar, Northfield and Palmera. Coincidentally, the Post received an e-mail on December 20 from a disgruntled Wildomar resident who did not receive her mail at all that day. Asked about whether the post office is obligated, in such a circumstance, to deliver it first thing in the morning, Gardiner said “no.” She admitted that she has dealt with some angry, frustrated customers. “One customer refused to talk to me because she had been down here several times and the message hadn’t gotten to me.” Gardiner explained this by saying that “a lot of times, a customer will come and ask for the postmaster, and the gentleman at the door will handle it and I won’t know. The employees will get the supervisor first.” Dozier added that this is standard procedure. “We emphasize handling problems at the lowest level first.” “It’s not that we’re blaming anyone,” Gardiner said. “We have to identify and fix the problems. This is a good work force; these are great employees.” However, while the employees seem to be feeling the effects of the mid-July closure of the Marina Processing and Distribution Center, Gardiner and Dozier deny that the transfer of mail to be processed downtown has had a negative impact on the Palisades post office. “What I think is that it is perception,” Gardiner said, adding that some employees might have been “resistant to change” or worried about job security with the closure of the Marina center. Dozier estimated that it used to be about 14 miles from the Marina to the Palisades on the 405 Freeway and that now it’s about 22 miles on the Harbor and Santa Monica Freeways’a difference of about 10 to 12 minutes, Dozier said. With adjusted dispatch or truck arrival times, and the same number of employees and routes in the Palisades now as they had prior to the closure (according to Dozier), he did not see how the closure has affected the Palisades postal service. “The majority of people [in the Palisades] are okay with their mail delivery,” he said.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
