All Around Pennsauken

By Bob Wagner, AAP Columnist

My trusty loose leaf notebook has been lying here open and blank, for days, daring me to write the April column. So far, I have three pages of drawings of walking sticks, a phone number for the post office consumer affairs division, and a butter stain from a wayward bagel.

All my writing starts with a white loose leaf binder. Then, after the words are arranged on the pages, I slowly hunt and peck onto my old, tired computer. When finished, I hit “Save As,” and pray it actually works. I always hit print, just in case it doesn’t, or I bump the wrong button, and it all disappears into computer hell. Each and every time I am successful, I am slightly amazed. When the paper acknowledges receipt, with an e-mail, I relax for another month. Today will be no different.

Except today I will be doing something distasteful. And I will be asking for the readers help ratting out the Post Office.

I have always been a fan of the U.S. Postal Service. Since childhood, I have marveled at the appearance of envelopes at my home every day, and the amazing tenacity of the humans who trudge up my steps in snow and ice and pouring rain and blistering heat, bringing the printed word to my fingertips. Important stuff like checks and bills come in the mail. All the great catalogs, offering goods the world over, come in the mail. News from sweethearts, tales of woe, and everything in between, from just down the road, to the jungles of Vietnam, are delivered right to the door of your house. All Around Pennsauken comes in the mail every month. Or, it is supposed to. The staff of the paper pays to have it delivered to every property in the Township. The mail delivery person, still known to me as the “mailman,” has a heavy job, once a month, delivering our newspaper. But a few months back, I noticed no paper delivered to my house in the mail. It was December, and stuff happens, so I just grabbed a copy at the 45th Street Pub. January was a repeat. Again, I shrugged, and figured it was just a glitch. In February, when the paper again failed to materialize, I started griping. I called All Around Pennsauken’s publisher and asked if this was a common occurrence? He suggested I wasn’t alone. I called the Post Office, got the run around for a bit, then a promise that all would be fixed. March came in like a lion, but without a delivery of my All Around Pennsauken paper!

At this exact moment, I am awaiting a return call from the consumer affairs division of the U.S. Postal Service, Camden, NJ. My call will be returned in the order it was received, the voice on the tape says. I want a check for the amount of my single delivery charge for the four missed months returned to the paper. I want an apology to the newspaper for the continued bad service, after it was brought to their attention, but not addressed. And I want any of you, the readers, who have had or still have delivery issues, to e-mail the paper at AllAroundPenn@aol.com, with good or bad news. Be sure to include your full mailing address, so we can let the Post Office know exactly where the problem is. The paper needs your help to straighten this thing out. And I want to go back to liking the Post Office again.