Letter to the Editor: Clayton’s mail delivery set up baffles resident

With the exception of a few years, I have lived in the town of Clayton for most of my life. When I was a kid, the town had about 1,000 residents. We knew everyone.

For years, the talk was, if Clayton grew, we could get mail delivered right to our door. We know Clayton has grown quite a bit, and, guess what, there is no mail delivery to your door.

Well, that is not entirely true. The original town of Clayton does not get mail delivered to your door, but the folks that moved from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the new developments in the town limits do.

I have never been able to figure that out. If you lived in the original part of Clayton, you still must go to the post office to get your mail. If you just moved here, they deliver yours.

I have reached out to the post office, and they stated that, as long as free mailboxes were available at the post office, then we could not get mail delivery. However, they have not been able to tell me why that does not apply to all the residents, just to the ones that live in the original part of town. I would have liked the opportunity to opt in to mail delivery and have the newbies that moved here go to the post office to get their mail.

It is not like going to the post office is a big deal. I go pick up my mail when I go to the firehouse and have for years. It is the principle of it. Live here your whole life? Nope, gotta go to the post office and get your mail. If you built in one of the new developments in town, they deliver yours.

I gotta say, how come our new residents get treated better by the post office than the old-timers?

I have reached out to our delegation in Washington, D.C., and they have looked into it and tell me what the post office told me — “As long as …” You get the picture. They have tried, and I thank them, but what would be the harm in servicing the whole town, not just the new parts of town?

I will say, if you have a question for the post office, send a letter early, as they are not the fastest folks in replying to you. I guess they get a lot of complaints or something. To me, it is really just one of those things that make you go, “Huh, what, really?” But they rule, and if you want to play, you gotta play by their rules.

I will also say, the folks at the Clayton Post Office are great and treat me well when I come in, and I thank them for that.

If anyone has pull with the post office, please ask for the entire town of Clayton to be serviced with mail delivery. I know other towns that have it. I think Amazon should get into the mail business. They seem to service everyone quickly. (Jeff Bezos, this is my idea, so if you do it, give me a call. I will tell you where to send the check.)

Kevin L. Wilson

Clayton