LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor: As we head for the holiday season with lots of packages and letters coming and going through the Ridgway post office, I want people to be aware of a troubling incident this past week.

I had ordered two sweaters from Talbots, which were shipped to the correct address of P.O. Box 829. The tracking alerted me that the package arrived on Wednesday the 25th and was delivered to a locker.

When I went to the post office around 4:45 pm, there was no locker key in my box. I was in Montrose all day Thursday, so I had to wait until Friday morning when the lobby opened at 8:30 to ask where my package went.

The postal worker said it had been delivered to a locker, but apparently the locker key went to the wrong box. We checked the locker and the package had been taken. Whoever took it from the locker could see it was not addressed to them and surely knew it was a mistake.

As of Saturday at 11:30 a.m., it had not been returned to the post office. I am stunned that it has not been returned – this is not how we do things here.

The postal employee said he was sorry, “mistakes happen.” We can all agree with that, and we know the post office is short staffed, so we need to be patient. Most people would promptly return the package received in error, but apparently not this person. (It is a federal offense to open someone else’s mail or take mail that’s not yours, 18 U.S.C. 1702, 1708.)

With the holiday season approaching, and the volume of mail and packages handled by the Ridgway post office, a mistake like this is likely to happen again. Be vigilant. And, please, treat other people the way you would like to be treated. Do the right thing, return any mail/ package mistakenly delivered to you so it can be delivered to its rightful recipient.

Marti Whitmore Log Hill Mesa