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All mail accounted for and on time, official says after downtown mishap
YOUNGSTOWN
Add a massive spill of thousands of pieces of mail in downtown Youngstown to snow and rain as obstacles that won’t keep postal carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Mail that fell off the back of a truck Wednesday night on its way from the U.S. Postal Service’s Cleveland distribution center to the downtown Youngstown office covered much of Front Street between Market Street and the Covelli Centre. Officials said none of the mail that fell was lost and it was delivered on time.
Several large metal bins holding tens of thousands of pieces of mail fell out of the back of a 47-foot-long tractor-trailer just a short distance from the downtown post office.
“It’s very uncommon, but accidents do occur,” said David Van Allen, a USPS spokesman. “We’re glad no one was hurt. This is very rare.”
Van Allen said of all the mail that fell off the truck, most of it stayed in its large metal containers. About 30 trays — each tray has about 450 pieces of mail — spilled onto the street and got mixed up, he said.
“It wasn’t a significant amount of mail that had to be manually put back in order,” Van Allen said. “There was no delay in delivery.”
Much of what was in the truck was “bulk business mail” from companies such as Cusinart, Tractor Supply and American Express.
Allen said no mail was lost even though those at the location of the spill saw some items blowing off the street.
Some of the metal bins that fell over had to be picked up by a forklift.
Most of those picking up the mail were not postal workers. That isn’t an issue as the main goals are to get the mail picked up and for none of it to get lost, Van Allen said.
As for protocol when an incident like this happens, Van Allen said, “We need to get [the mail] secured as quickly as possible. There’s no other option.”
The incident appears to have occurred when the driver of a company that brings the mail to Youngstown from Cleveland turned from Market to Front street.
“The restraining bar [inside the truck] came loose as he rounded the corner,” Van Allen said.
Van Allen said he wasn’t authorized to disclose the name of the company or the driver involved in the mail spill.
union meeting today
An economic-impact study released by the American Postal Workers Union shows 261 direct and indirect jobs lost in the city from the consolidation of the Youngstown mail-processing and distribution center.
The national American Postal Workers Union commissioned the study on five areas impacted by the closings of postal centers throughout the nation, and Youngstown was selected to be a part of the overview.
“One of the reasons was they felt the economic impact might be greater [here] because we are not fully recovered from the recession,” said Jim Varner, president of the Youngstown American Postal Workers Local 443 that represents 225 members.
Local 443 will have a meeting at noon today to discuss the study in the community room at the Covelli Centre on Front Street downtown.