There’s no ‘service’ in postal service in Castaic, according to Castaic Area Town Council member John Kunak, who shared his nightmarish postal experience with The Signal.
Kunak, a member of the Castaic Area Town Council, had planned a vacation to the east coast and, like many Santa Clarita Valley residents, cancelled mail delivered to his house.
Then Hurricane Matthew happened and put an end to a sunny trip to the east coast.
When he tried to cancel his request to have his mail stopped, that’s where his troubles began, he said.
Kunak visited the post office of the U.S. Postal Service on Franklin Parkway off of Commerce Center Drive in Castaic.
“I asked to speak to a supervisor, they said they didn’t have one,” Kunak said. “The person at Franklin told me to go to Creekside (Road post office).”
Kunak went to the Creekside post office and talked to the supervisor, he said.
He conveyed his frustration to the supervisor about not being able to phone and was told the postal workers don’t answer the phone, he said.
“I said I will donate an answering machine,” Kunak said, noting the supervisor would not give his name.
At one point in his ordeal, Kunak told a postal worker “I’ve got a whole community that needs answers.”
Stephanie Crane, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, was told about Kunak’s experience by The Signal Wednesday.
About no supervisors being assigned to Castaic’s post office on Franklin, she said: “That’s right, there’s no supervisor. People are advised to contact the Post Master who is at Creekside.”
The Post Master at Creekside is responsible for a “jurisdiction,” she said, that includes Newhall, Castaic, Valencia, Saugus and Stevenson Ranch – pretty much, the Santa Clarita Valley.
“If they (postal workers) just sell stamps and accept mail for delivery, they just have responsibility for a little portion of the mail service. You would have to deal with the Post Master if you have a problem, Crane said.
Crane advises people to complain to the Post Master.
“We do want to hear the good and the bad,” she said Wednesday. “We want to hear both, to correct a bad situation.”
Kunak said he saw a return of his mail delivery once his vacation ended – the one he never took.
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