[Durham INC] Postmaster Mike King

[John Martin]

I find this whole situation troubling and Postmaster King's evident indifference, disturbing.  The East Durham neighborhood listserv has had frequent complaints of incompetent service in East Durham, e.g., people who have lived at an address for years suddenly having their mail returned to senders with a notice that no such person lives at the address. Whenever one person complains, invariably three or four more chime in with recent accounts of horrible service.  I think that Postmaster King would be well-advised to make sure that his carriers are actually performing their duties competently before he worries about the placement of mailboxes.  
As INC president, I'm certainly willing to lead a delegation to meet with him if he is unwilling to come to one of our meetings.  I would suggest that our President-emeritus and attorney, Tom Miller, also be included, along with City Councilman Mike Woodard, and Tracy Lovett, Congressman David Price's Durham liaison.  I would also want to include people like Bill and Myers who appear to be particularly well-versed in these issues.
I am open to anyone else attending as well.
John MartinPresident, Durham InterNeighborhood Council 

--- On Wed, 11/9/11, TheOcean1 at aol.com <TheOcean1 at aol.com> wrote:

From: TheOcean1 at aol.com <TheOcean1 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Durham INC] Postmaster Mike King
To: andrew.sugg at duke.edu, inc-list at rtpnet.org
Cc: mike.e.king at usps.gov
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 12:06 PM



 
 

Hard to 
call it a relationship, Myers, but I just got off the phone with Mr King (who is 
CCed) and will gladly forward his reply to this message back to the INC 
listserv.
 
Just FYI, 
when the 2005-2006 issue came up, I was passing the INC gavel to Mike Woodard, 
so we have always had two past presidents visiting with each new post master... 
and there have been a few.
It's my 
understanding from our long ago meeting with Postmaster Chris Tinkham, that 
Postmaster Patrick Harkin was demoted over the issue, and Mr Tinkham was quite 
willing to work with the neighborhoods. He even committing to pay residents 
who had been forced to put up rural mailboxes in "porch delivered" 
neighborhoods.
That's why 
Mike Woodard and I have met with all the incoming Postmasters, 
including Dominic Camasso when he replaced Tinkham, and we did so again 
when Mike King took the helm.
 
Unlike all the previous Postmasters, Mr King just told me 
that the USPS has the right to independently decide to 
change the mode of delivery. So I asked if he was available to meet with the 
InterNeighborhood Council at our Nov meeting, and he instantly said he 
wasn't available. So I asked if he would be available to meet the 4th Tues in 
Jan 2012, and he said he wouldn't commit to an appointment that far out, 
and we'd need to check with him after the first.
 
He 
explained his unusual response by telling me that his family was more important 
than any neighborhood, and he has a handicapped daughter who's needs come first. 
(media is welcome to quote me as to that being virtually verbatim) 

 
While 
I applaud Mr King's dedication to his family, I think a greater dedication to 
the neighborhoods is in order, as that is the job that is putting food on the 
table for his family. Meanwhile, Myers, I would encourage you to bring those 
letters and those news articles to every INC meeting until we can secure a guest 
appearance with Mr King.
 
Hopefully we'll eventually arrive at a win/win solution as 
we did with Mr Tinkham so long ago. One last suggestion for Mr King, check your 
own postal manual (which is generally not available to the public, but we were 
able to secure a copy of the appropriate pages). Six years ago, and perhaps it 
has changed in the meantime, it stated that placing a rural mailbox in a porch 
delivered neighborhood causes the carrier to walk a zig zag route that is not 
efficient. 
 
The 
member neighborhoods of InterNeighborhood Council look forward to your reply, 
and to meeting you in person, at your earliest convenience. 


Bill Anderson
Past President INC
PS: If those letters are exactly the 
same as the letters six years ago, they will be cleverly worded to "trick", not 
"require", the postal customer to change their mode of delivery. And that change 
in mode of delivery becomes permanent after 30 or 90 days, I can't recall which. 
There are still a few mailboxes in Northgate Park which look utterly ridiculous. 

I can't speak to whether the postal 
manuals have changed in the past half dozen years, but I rather doubt Durham's 
neighborhoods have reversed how they feel about this unconscionable 
practice. 

 

In a message dated 11/9/2011 10:22:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
andrew.sugg at duke.edu writes:

  
  Does anyone here (Bill, how about you?) have a relationship 
  with the acting and now permanent postmaster for Durham, Mike King?  The 
  ever deceptive practice of “we are going to withhold your mail until you erect 
  a rural mailbox and return to send” even though postal regulations don’t allow 
  this, is back in full swing in my neighborhood.  I have a copy of two 
  letters from the post office where this threat is made.  This is for a 
  new neighbor of mine on Echo Road, in Long Meadow.  I still have copies 
  of the 2005 & 2006 Herald Sun articles outlining this practice, and how 
  USPS was going to back off, as they didn’t have this authority.  If 
  anyone has a current relationship with the postmaster, please let me 
  know.  I really want to help this homeowner.   
  
Thanks, 
  
Myers Sugg 
     
     
    

_______________________________________________
Durham 
  INC Mailing 
  List
list at durham-inc.org
http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Durham INC Mailing List
list at durham-inc.org
http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20111109/34af1c4c/attachment.html>