- By Jim Evans
- Opinions
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Events over the past few months have made it appear that Lansing and its post office are burdens the Ithaca postmaster would love to get rid of. After a lady lost control of her vehicle and damaged the front of the Lansing post office, local box holders had to go to the Ithaca, or “main,” post office to pick up their mail. People hated that, and told me that going that far cost enough time, trouble, and fuel to make them limit their trips to perhaps once a week. That led the postmaster, in his infinite wisdom, to conclude that the Lansing post office was hardly needed, because he saw so little Lansing traffic!
Many Lansingites tried to be understanding about the glacial pace of repairs, so the Ithaca postmaster probably didn’t receive nearly enough complaints. This might reinforce a conclusion that the Lansing post office just isn’t that important.
Or maybe the postmaster actually has a zillion really pressing crises boiling every day, so a backwater like Lansing deserved the back burner. I myself wrote the postmaster a polite letter asking whether I might move my mailbox. Weeks went by. No answer. Finally, my mail carrier, with my letter in hand, helped me out.
To add insult to injury, box holders must pay rental for their boxes, even though those boxes were inaccessible. Not that they got their mail in a reliable fashion at the Ithaca post office. Some bills and checks are still catching up with box renters, arriving over months late.
Given the logic we’ve seen, if box holders tried to hold back rent for the time they had no boxes, our post office might be closed due to a perceived lack of demand.
In fact, Lansing is growing, and outgrowing its little storefront satellite post office. I go to Georgetown NY (13072) occasionally and see that they have a beautiful post office. Like Lansing, that town is growing, too, but it’s about the size of Enfield. Surely, given the growth of our population and business community, Lansing is ready for its own post office, with an involved postmaster.
From: Jim Evans
Lansing NY 14882