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Mailbox lying on the ground for weeks fixed following call to 2 On Your Side

5 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Wednesday, January 23 2019 Jan 23, 2019 January 23, 2019 5:24 PM January 23, 2019 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Residents living in a community off of Jefferson Highway say their mailbox has been laying on the ground for weeks.

The mailbox, which is used for eight properties in the Old San Francisco Townhomes area of Baton Rouge, rusted at the base where it's supposed to connect to the ground and fell over.

The homeowner's association says it has been going back and forth with the Post Office to get it fixed. Adam Clark is one of the townhouse owners that use the broken mailbox and contacted 2 On Your Side for help.

"When the postman comes out, he flips it over to where he can get to the back of the box and when the neighbors come out to get the mail they then flip it back over so they can get on their end of the box," said Clark. "Then we just repeat the cycle."

Clark says he and his neighbors have been doing this for weeks. The box is rusted with a sharp edge and it's heavy to flip over.

The HOA board for the area says it doesn't own the mailboxes. The board has been contacting the United States Postal Service for a couple of weeks now asking about repairs. The board says it's been given a couple of dates for repairs to be made but those dates have come and gone.

"It's up to them to come and fix it," said Clark.

Last year, Clark says the Post Office made repairs when the box fell the first time, last year. He says it wasn't properly reinstalled and started leaning to one side. It fell over again in December.

Wednesday afternoon, after 2 On Your Side contacted USPS, someone with the Postal Service came out to make the repairs Clark and the HOA had been asking for. They switched out the rusted base with a brand new one. The USPS confirms it does own the mailboxes at Old San Francisco Townhomes.

USPS says it apologizes for what happened and provided the following statement:

The Postal Service appreciates its customers and always strives to provide the best possible service to them. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced by customers living in the Old San Francisco community. In every case, the Postal Service seeks to make repairs and replacement of Centralized Box Units (CBU) as quickly as possible.  If the CBU is determined to need replacement, the timeframe for completion can depend on the current supply of new boxes. Repairs have now been completed. We appreciate the patience of our valued customers.

 

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