BILLINGS — One West End family is at their wit’s end, as they said they haven’t received any mail for the last month—affecting a big part of their lives when it comes to paying bills and other timely matters that require their mail.
“No mail,” Jim Justice said, as he opened his mailbox on Sunday near his West End home on Lewis Ave.
Justice knows what to expect by now as it’s the same as it’s been for the past month.
“It started periodically not coming. We’d go maybe couple days with no mail. And then this month, we have not received mail at all,” Justice said.
The problem isn’t a lack of letters, Justice is getting mail but it’s not getting to him. The only time he received mail this month was when he drove to his post office located downtown last Wednesday to again identify the issue.
“And they finally had five pieces of mail for us. And we haven’t gotten mail since,” Justice said.
He said he’s addressed the lack of mail delivery many times with his mail carriers and his post office, at 841 S 26th St, Billings.
“One time they said their carriers, they didn’t have enough carriers, they were short of carriers. Then the other time they said that our carrier out here, which is carrier 20, just walked in and quit in the middle of morning,” Justice said.
Justice said he also reached out to the Postmaster General who said his post office would give him a call. It’s one that he’s yet to receive.
The USPS representative for Montana told MTN that according to their system, mail delivery has been consistent in that area and as of Saturday, all Billings post office locations are current on mail delivery.
But Justice said that doesn’t add up for him or his neighbors.
“I’ve talked to two of my neighbors and they have not been receiving mail either,” said Justice.
His live-in daughter, Heather Cruz, is missing mail as well.
“We’re waiting on legal documents from the state for the passing of my mom. Waiting on things for people that we sold our house to prior, waiting for that to come which we haven’t been getting,” Cruz said.
The US Postal Service said there can at times be issues with volunteer carriers who may not be familiar with routes. They said this could cause a slight delay, but any delayed mail is always prioritized for delivery the following business day.
However, Justice remains frustrated by a month of missing mail.
“It’s a thirty-minute drive for me to go from here to the Post Office. And you know, my gas. I’m on disability, I don’t have a lot of money to be spending on gas running down there trying to find our mail,” said Justice.
He’s determined to fix the issue, one way or another.
“I’ll be down Monday. I’m going down Monday,” Justice said.
