Critical of Postal Service

On Dec. 24, I was at home for the holiday in the condominium complex in which I live, waiting patiently for the mail to be delivered, when I found a yellow delivery notice informing me that I must go to the Tarzana post office to pick up a package. The mail person made no attempt to ring my number to deliver the package.

I still have not received that package because I work outside the San Fernando Valley and post office hours are limited to 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. I suspect that my package was not even brought to my address. It no doubt traveled only from one post office to another, while the sender assumed that it would be delivered to me in time for Christmas.

The sender was cheated and so was I.

I suggest that the post office begin to address the fact that in some cases it only offers substandard service by making the following changes:

* Notify senders when substandard service is the only service offered and then charge accordingly. Customers then have an opportunity to decide whether they wish to seek another method of sending a package.

* The Notice of Delivery Form needs to be renamed “Notice of Post Office Request to Patron to Pick Up Package at the Post Office.”

GINI P. IVEY, Tarzana