Speedy Delivery

Property tax envelopes must be postmarked by Oct. 31, or they are late, with a penalty. These envelopes are a size and color that ought to be recognized by at least the very well paid supervisors in the post office, if not by the employees.

I drove from San Marcos to San Diego early the morning of Oct. 31, with my tax envelope. At a mailbox on Nimitz Boulevard near Rosecrans Street, I saw printed claims of a number of pickups that would get my tax envelope to the main post office, about a mile away, by that afternoon.

Yet my envelope was not postmarked until the next day, Nov. 1. I found this out via a very sassy missive from our tax collector, rejecting my payment, and adding a penalty.

Was this false and misleading information on the box about the claimed pickups? Do post office employees have the right to ignore tax postmarks?

If the post office doesn’t care, what about the intelligence level of the people who collect taxes in “America’s Finest City?” Are they dumb enough, cynical enough, to think anyone would pay a bill the same day a penalty starts, instead of having at least mailed it on time?

JAMES C. GALLAGHER

San Marcos