Postal Service apologies for not announcing closures
Last Modified: Monday, September 03, 2012 8:50 PM
By John Guidroz / American Press
A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service apologized Friday for not notifying local media outlets about the closure of local post offices because of the threat of Hurricane Isaac.
He said the first priority was keeping its employees safe.
“It was simply an oversight,” said McKinney Boyd, a Dallas-based USPS spokesman. “There was no intent to leave Lake Charles out of the media reach. I apologize to our customers, (but) our number one concern is to protect employees.”
Boyd said the local post offices were closed because the storm shifted slightly to the west after landfall, causing its outer bands to reach Southwest Louisiana.
“The decision was made to look at protecting our employees,” he said. “We didn’t want them delivering mail in that kind of weather. We made the decision to close our offices in the three-digit 706 area, where Lake Charles is based.”
The storm also caused Lafayette, New Orleans and Baton Rouge mail processing facilities to close until noon Thursday. All mail in Lake Charles is processed at the Lafayette plant.
Boyd said many USPS officials have been in the New Orleans area since Monday to manage operations and assist with deliveries in areas affected by Isaac. He said an emergency operations center was set up at the Kenner post office.
After Isaac made landfall, Boyd said employees at closed post offices were sent to other post offices to help with deliveries.
The local post offices re-opened for normal business on Friday.
For more information, call 800-275-8777.
Posted By: claude On: 9/1/2012
Title: The mail must be delivered LOL
Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night?
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