Brooklyn NYCHA residents say broken mailbox left them without reliable mail for months
Residents at the New York City Housing Authority's Farragut Houses in Brooklyn say a broken mailbox has left them without reliable mail service for months, forcing them to travel to the post office to pick up letters twice a week.
The entire panel of nearly two dozen mailboxes has been unusable because of what neighbors describe as a faulty lock.
Residents say they missed important letters due to lack of service
"They just got a lot of excuses at the post office," said Stacey Carrington, a retired MTA bus driver who reached out to CBS News New York's Hannah Kliger for help.
Carrington, who is currently using a scooter while recovering from knee-replacement surgery, said the problem reached a breaking point when she missed an important letter about a long-awaited apartment transfer.
"I didn't pick up the letter until after, well after," Carrington said.
Another resident, Cassandra Ratley, said she missed a letter about her son's high school freshman orientation.
"We only have to pick up mail on Wednesdays and Saturdays," Ratley said. "So when I finally got to pick up the mail, it was on a Saturday and the appointment had passed. It was a week passed already."
"It's aggravating that no one cares"
The nearest post office is about a 20-minute walk away, and some residents with mobility issues need to take two buses to get there. Even then, they can only pick up their mail two days a week during limited hours.
"Go to the post office, who's blaming NYCHA for the mailbox. And then when you talk to NYCHA, they say it is the post office. So it's just a back-and-forth thing," Ratley said. "But this is a real hardship when you're missing important appointments."
In a statement, NYCHA said, "NYCHA repaired the mailbox bank in March and we are currently working with USPS to have them expedite replacement of their postal lock."
Carrington questioned why service at the post office remains so limited.
"If mail is delivered six days a week, why would you tell me that I only have two days to pick up my mail?" she said.
USPS did not answer that specific question when contacted, but acknowledged the problem was caused by a faulty lock, which it is responsible for.
"It's aggravating that no one cares," Carrington said.
A USPS spokesperson confirmed that investigators put in a work order to replace the lock and said delivery service would resume soon, though they did not reply to follow-up questions regarding a specific timeline.
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