Nibble Your Way up the Bureaucratic Food Chain

by Albert Goodwyn

Never received that bill? The check is truly in the mail but never got there? Who's in charge here?

The United States Postal Service (that is the name the Post Office went away 30 years ago) is a government-backed monopoly that can almost do as it pleases with your mail and your mailing costs. Because of the increasing loss of their revenues to e-mail ("electronic diversion") and corporations' efforts to reduce the weights of their necessary mailings, the USPS is facing a deficit of $2.4 billion on $67 billion of revenues. There are plans to raise rates in June and again next year. Layoffs and closures are planned. They also want to stop Saturday deliveries. It's okay. Congress is looking into it.

If you are still complacent now, you will be complaining soon. But where? Those forms in the lobby do not seem to go anywhere but the round file. As for any organization, complaints must reach the staffer who is most affected.

The United States military tradition insists that all complaints go up through the proper chain of command. For instance, if your sergeant bit your toe, you do not immediately storm into the general's office. First, you complain to your sergeant's commanding officer. If that gets you nowhere, you move up to his superior officer.

If you have a legitimate complaint and you want to get it resolved, start at the bottom of the food chain and work upwards. Your local office, the one that serves your one address out of 134 million, is managed by a Station Manager. The Laurel Branch Station Manager is Mr. Jesse Land. The Station Manager for the Dimond Branch is Ms. Joyce Robertson. The Station Manager reports to a District Manager. For the California and Hawaii areas, there are ten District Managers. The name of the Oakland District Manager is Kirby Faciane. His office is in Oakland.

The Vice Presidents of this government enterprise cover five areas and manage the District Managers. The person doing this currently is an acting Vice President because no new appointee has been approved by the Presidential administration. The acting Pacific Area Vice President, covering California and Hawaii, is Al Iniguez, whose office is in South San Francisco.

If your gripe is serious enough, you need to get the ear of the Deputy Postmaster General. From there, it is up to the Postmaster General of the United States, who oversees the Deputy and the Area Vice Presidents.

No luck there? Next step is the Postal Board of Governors, 11 people who constitute the policy-making body of the USPS. All of these higher-level echelons are seated in Washington, D. C.

The Oakland Consumer Affairs Office is at 201 13th Street. Their telephone number is 251-3375. If all else fails, maybe try Pony Express.