The Last Mile
Budget cuts force Phillips residents to hike for their mail

by Sam Adams

We live in an age of public costs and private benefits. July 1st brought another reminder of this to Phillips and Seward residents: they can no longer pick up their priority mail and parcels at the downtown post office, with its easy bus access and extended window hours. People in delivery Zone 4 (which includes the 55404 and 55454 zip codes) now must visit the Twin Cities Metro Hub at 3501 Broadway St. NE . They may pick up their mail only between the hours of 10 AM and 12 noon, Monday through Saturday. The nearest regular Metro Transit bus, the 61, runs twice an hour from downtown Minneapolis to the corner of East Hennepin and Industrial Boulevard, which is two-thirds of a mile from the building. The neighborhood is a mixed industrial area, not well designed for bike or pedestrian traffic, and the walk is at best unpleasant, perhaps even dangerous. But that’s nothing a Phillips resident can’t handle, right?
The Friday morning crew at the TCMH counter is cheerful and sympathetic. They’re getting used to complaints. Without being asked, they hand customer feedback forms to this writer and to an elderly gentleman who is trying to track down his Social Security check. “When they were going to do this, I told them, a lot of people in these neighborhoods don’t drive. How are they going to get here?” said a postal worker who declined to be named (“I really need this job”). “They said I shouldn’t assume that, and that it wasn’t my concern how people got their mail.” One wonders whose concern it should be.
With first-class postage recently up to 37 cents, one might also wonder why the post office needs to reduce service in the first place. But any extra funds will likely go to strengthen the home front in the War on Terrorism: they’ll pay for anthrax sniffers and bomb detectors, not for providing convenient window service to the public. The people whose time and convenience are being sacrificed as a result are those who already have little to give. “They’re hitting the people who can least afford [it]”, said 6th Ward Councilmember Dean Zimmermann. He says he will complain in writing to Congressman Martin Olav Sabo about the “ridiculous” loss of service, and suggests that his constituents do the same. 
“At this time, I’m citing some of the cost issues and staffing issues”, says Jim Ahlgren at USPS Customer Relations. He says that “left mail”, the postal service term for items which require the customer’s signature on delivery , used to share a section of the downtown post office with the registered mail. However, “we were breaking our own regulations”, according to Ahlgren. Postal inspectors do not allow registered and unregistered mail to share the same space in postal facilities. “They told us we had to move the left mail out of the downtown office”.
This is a move that actually began in 1989, when the general mail facility in Downtow n was going to be expanded. Carrier service to Zone 4 was moved to a “temporary” facility at 3501 Broadway for the duration. Due to the perennial “budgetary concerns”, this expansion never happened, and the facility has become permanent. This is where the postal carriers who deliver to Phillips report for work and pick up mail for their routes. 
Ahlgren bristles at the suggestion that the Postal Service is neglecting the Phillips neighborhood. “I think the best solution for all is to use the redelivery option – you can just sign the delivery slip and have the package left at your door .” But some residents are never home when their mail carrier arrives, and some may not be comfortable having priority mail or items of value left at their homes. Phillips isn’t what outsiders believe it to be, but it has more than its share of chemically dependent people and an abundance of latchkey kids. Having the option of signing for their packages downtown gave Phillips residents both security and flexibility. But those are privileges which once again, appear reserved for those who live in more attractive zip codes.
People can have a friend or relative pick up their packages for them, and may be able to use the redelivery form to have their mail left with a friend or local business. “I think within reason, we could do that”, says Ahlgren, adding that “they’re considering possibly expanding that 2-hour period” at 3501 Broadway to give residents more time to pick up their mail. But in the meantime, those of us who get packages or priority mail will need good walking shoes and a keen sense of direction. At the very least, we should take a good look at where we’re going.
Congressman Martin Olav Sabo receives mail at 250 2nd Ave. S., Suite 286, Minneapolis MN 55401. His office phone is 612-664-8000. The United States Postal Service customer relations number is 612-349-4426.