A test of mail service to and from the territory was not launched because of ongoing timeliness issues, but is rather standard procedure for gauging service, according to officials from the U.S. Postal Service.
“It happens all around the country,” Postal Service spokesman Maureen Marion said from her base in Syracuse, N.Y.
Each year “test mail reporter” letters are sent to random postal service customers. Marion said she didn’t know how many in the territory received them.
According to the letter received by those Postal Service customers selected to serve as “test mail reporters,” the job entails collecting and opening the mail every day, receiving three to six pieces of mail per week and reporting when those pieces of mail were received via a toll-free number or the Internet. The job pays $1 for every piece of mail accurately reported.
To address the issue of delayed mail and other problems, the Postal Service completed an audit of service to and from post offices in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The audit, done at the urging of Delegate Donna M. Christensen, was released in April 2009. It indicated that most of the snafus occur in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where all mail in and out of the territory is processed. Part of the problem was attributed to lack of communication between the Postal Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Problems still exist, however. Most concern mail that doesn’t reach the customer in a timely manner.
Aesha Duval, who works in the delegate’s St. Croix office, said that Christensen plans to revisit the Postal Service issues in August when the U.S. House of Representatives goes on recess. She said the delegate is aware that issues with postal delivery persist.
