Cheryl Romano Hoisting aloft the supplies they provided themselves, cleanup volunteers at the Yachats Post Office worked to “do a good deed,” said organizer Catherine Whitten-Carey, left. She was joined Sunday by an all-female crew, including Patty Sledgister, center, Sharon Christensen and Laura Rains, right.

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com

A small band of Yachats residents turned out over the Labor Day weekend to perform housekeeping duties at the Post Office, but their vacuums and cleaners can’t fix the service’s persistent staffing problems.

“I thought, ‘Let’s do a good deed; everyone is missing Angie so much,’” said Catherine Whitten-Carey, referring to longtime clerk Angie Bagby.

Catherine Witten-Carey **This sign will greet Yachats Post Office clerk Angie Bagby on her scheduled return Tuesday.**

Bagby is scheduled to return to her post Tuesday, after a long-scheduled vacation. She’ll be greeted by a much cleaner workplace — and a restaurant gift certificate provided by Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessy, a Yachats City Council member.

On Monday, the Post Office changed hours that a clerk will be at the front desk — it will now be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.

Due to a protracted staffing shortage, maintenance has been neglected at the Post Office. So thanks to the holiday workers, the exterior and interior windows were cleaned, walls wiped down, air vents broom-cleared, and many spiders and their webs removed.

“When there’s a need, people in Yachats help,” said Bette Perman, who did the windows in and out with Patty Sledgister. “A village needs a Post Office.”

But the only post office within miles is more than a place to pick up mail and packages. It serves as a social hub where residents can catch up on how everyone’s doing, serves as a community bulletin board for announcements of all sorts, and a daily destination for many of the village’s walkers.

For much of the last year only former postmaster Jeff Davis, who retired July 30, and Bagby were on hand to handle the load of mail and packages at the Yachats Post Office. Davis told Yachats News he had tried since April 2019 to hire new staff, but was stymied by several factors, including the lack of affordable housing in the area, and the agency’s time-consuming, bureaucratic hiring policies.

“The Associated Postal Workers of America took away the custodial position I used to have” for the building, Davis said, and “the Post Office has to abide by contracts with the unions.” Noting that “the U.S. Postal Service’s hands are sometimes tied by the unions,” he nevertheless blames Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for a big chunk of the problem. “DeJoy has moved the bigger bosses around every three months. So, they can’t fix problems, because they can’t network long enough to do that.”

DeJoy, the owner of a North Carolina logistic company and prominent Republican fundraiser, has been dogged by controversy since just after he was appointed by the GOP-dominated Postal Service board of governors. Soon after taking the post in 2020, DeJoy instituted cost-cutting moves that mail carriers blame for creating backlogs across the country.

Quinton Smith **The Yachats Post Office was opened intermittently the past two weeks after being partially staffed by postal workers from Newport and Waldport.**

“This is the worst I’ve seen the Post Office in 34 1/2 years,” said Davis. “It’s one of the reasons I retired. I know lots of people who live in Yachats now who’d love to work at the Post Office, but they have to wait for sometimes years.”

That’s because the hiring rules mandate that jobs are open to the general public only after current employees apply, transfer in — and then leave because they can’t find housing in the area.

Staffers from the Waldport and Newport post offices have come in to keep services going in Yachats. However, over the past two weeks, patrons have walked in to the post office several times to find a “Closed” sign hanging at the entrance to the inner lobby. Key-operated boxes remain open, but sometimes, people haven’t been able to claim or mail packages right away.

“I know some people who were expecting checks” who experienced delays, said weekend volunteer Patty Sledgister. “I drove to Florence to drop off a package,” said another. Others in the weekend clean-up spoke of delays receiving legal documents and important medicines.

Cheryl Romano Laura Rains cleans an air vent inside the Yachats Post Office lobby during a citizen clean-up project over the Labor Day weekend. Organizer Catherine Whitten-Carey estimated that upwards of 30 hours’ labor was contributed for the effort, aimed at countering “negativity” around Post Office staff and service issues.

What consumers can do

According to Davis, improving the mail situation at least partly depends on writing to U.S. Senators and Representatives — and not just griping on Facebook.

“The postal board of governors are the only people who can fire DeJoy,” he said, “and the only way you’re going to get their attention is to contact elected officials at the national level.”

All of Oregon’s federal-level representatives maintain web pages where consumers can file complaints and comments. The three are: Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and 5^th Congressional District Rep. Kurt Schrader.

“Oregonians deserve prompt and comprehensive answers when they ask questions about service from federal agencies,” Wyden said in a statement to Yachats News through his Oregon spokesman Hank Stern. Wyden pledged to “press the Post Office to provide those answers that Yachats residents deserve to their important questions about the postal service that their community counts on for quality of life.”

Three times in the past three weeks, calls by YachatsNews to a USPS communications official in Seattle went unanswered. Soon after Yachats News contacted Wyden’s office for comment Friday, a Postal Service spokesman in Colorado responded.

Cheryl Romano **Cleanup crews Sunday planted mums near the front door of the Yachats Post Office. The plants were purchased by Linda Tapal and planted by Julie Bur.**

“We have had some staffing issues at the local Post Office due to retirements and have had to borrow from surrounding offices,” said David Rupert, a USPS spokesman in Colorado. “We did have to slightly adjust our hours but we should be back to full hours next week.”

Whether or not service improves, Davis says there’s a technique that may help in avoiding delays in receiving packages.

Since some vendors and suppliers will not mail to Post Office boxes, Davis advises having packages addressed this way: Sue and John Doe, 123 Maple St #000, City, State, Zip. Adding the number sign, or hashtag, followed by the P.O. box number after the street address helps clerks quickly identify whose package is whose.

Meanwhile, activist residents like the weekend cleanup crew do what they can.

“This place will at least smell better,” said Laura Rains as she wielded paper towels sprayed with a vinegar solution. Then, she and fellow cleaner Sharon Christensen lugged an overflowing recycling container to a bin outside.

As the cleanup progressed Sunday, organizer Whitten-Carey had a final word about the Yachats Post Office: “We don’t want it to close.”