Politics & Government
Post Office Recovery Needs to be “Complete” Operation, Says USPS
USPS provides update on restoration efforts at Toms River Post Office on West Water Street
Residents who are receiving their mail through alternate means, as opposed to stopping in at the Toms River Township Post Office on West Water Street, will have to continue to doing so for the near future, according to a representative of the United States Postal Service.
“We still have our team and contractors out there working to check everything,” said Raymond Daiutolo, the USPS’s Media Contact for the Southern New Jersey region. “I left a meeting this morning regarding that, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to be back in for a while.”
Daiutolo said that they wanted to be able to access the entire building and that the restoration effort shouldn’t be “piecemeal.”
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“It’s a large operation, and it’s something we have to do on a complete basis. For right now, we’re going to continue our contingency operations at our alternative locations,” said Daiutolo.
Those contingency operations include the reassignment of Toms River letter carriers to the USPS facility on Swarthmore Avenue in Lakewood, in order to deliver mail to Toms River residents.
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“Fortunately, that was a big building and able to accommodate (the demand). There are several scenarios out there in the district, but Toms River is probably one of the largest we have that was impacted,” stated Daiutolo.
The USPS representative said that the other alternative location, at the USPS building in Beachwood, was distributing mail for other affected communities, such as Seaside Park, Seaside Heights and Normandy Beach.
Daiutolo also wanted to extend his gratitude to all residents in the affected communities for their patience and understanding at this time.
“It’s an inconvenience, but hopefully we’ll have operations restored in Toms River in the near future,” he said.
Nancy Hofstetter, an employee of the post office in Beachwood, said that emotional reactions among patrons who have been receiving mail there have been mixed.
“I think some of them were happy to see their letter carriers, that it gave them a feeling of normalcy. Some people have also been sharing their stories, and usually they’ve been very tragic,” said Hofstetter.
