I’ve finally reached my breaking point with the Edgartown post office. Here is a quick rundown of offenses that have happened to me in just the last couple of months:

• I received a package pickup slip in my rural route box, went to the post office to retrieve said package, only to be informed, after waiting in line for 15 minutes, that said package was not there. After calling the Vineyard Haven Post Office, who informed me that the package was, in fact, sitting at the Edgartown post office, I went back the next day only to be told quite rudely that the package was not there. Days later, I returned in search of the elusive package and was told “it’s been here for a week.”

• I returned home to find a package containing my expensive computer board, sitting on the ground, in the weeds, on the side of a busy road at the foot of my mailbox post.

• After waiting for two months for my daughter’s college ring to arrive via U.S. mail, I finally called the company and asked about the status of the order. They informed me that the local post office returned the ring because the address was “unknown.” She read the delivery address to me over the phone, and it is in fact my correct address.

• I have had mail delivered to my mailbox that was addressed to not only completely different people and addresses on the Island, but to people in completely different states!

• I routinely have neighbors show up at my door with my mail in hand that was delivered to their mailbox in error. What is going on here? I am not the only person, even in my small circle of people, who have these experiences with this post office regularly. Calls to the postmaster are in vain, since the voice mailbox is always full. I know I’m risking retribution for sending this to the newspaper, but at this point, how can it possibly get worse?

Carla A. Cooper
Edgartown