ZIP Code Adds to Families’ Costs

Rep. Brad Sherman’s efforts to obtain a separate ZIP Code for Oak Park are appreciated. Comparing our cross-county problem to other requests for ZIP Codes is ludicrous.

We recently had an earthquake safety valve installed on our gas meter. The valve was sold and installed by Energy Pacific, a gas company affiliate. The cost of the valve was $117.50 (plus labor), and this is an important safety device. To determine the sales tax, we were asked our ZIP Code (91301). They charged 8.25% tax, even though we explained that we were in Ventura County. They insisted that they could not charge us the Ventura County rate (7.25%) unless we had a ZIP Code which--according to their map--was in Ventura County.

The valve was installed last week. Energy Pacific then confirmed that the sales tax was being sent to Los Angeles County because of the ZIP Code.

There are about 6,000 homes and condos in Oak Park. If everyone installed the safety valve, Oak Park residents would pay a collective overcharge of more than $6,000, and--because all the money is being sent to Los Angeles County--Ventura County would lose more than $50,000 in much needed sales tax revenues.

This is just one example of the difficulties we face because of the obstinacy of the U.S. Postal Service. It is about time the postal service provided service to its clients, not itself.

H. D. KERN

Oak Park