SALT LAKE CITY – Imagine if you suddenly stopped receiving your mail and couldn’t get an explanation of the reason for the US postal service.
When it happened to a woman from Salt Lake City, she called KSL investigators to find out why the post office refused to deliver.
“What I did was fill out complaints on their website,” Ardis Parshall told KSL. While we were talking to Parshall, a delivery driver stopped to drop off some groceries.
“We haven’t received correspondence in our neighborhood in six weeks,” said Parshall.
Instead, the USPS is holding mail for her and several of her neighbors at the post office, where they can pick it up. However, Parshall does not drive and walk with a cane, so the mile-long walk through the rugged terrain of Salt Lake City avenues to his post office is difficult.
In addition, she is diabetic – placing her in the high-risk category for COVID-19. Her doctors don’t want her on a public bus. Some of the mail she is no longer able to receive include supplies for diabetics.
Parshall said she got nowhere with her complaints.
“You receive an automatic response stating that it was received and the next thing I hear is that my case has been resolved and here is a consumer satisfaction survey,” she said.
After an SLC woman says the @USPS stopped delivering mail in her neighborhood and the post office stopped responding, she called @KSLInvestigates. What we found, tonight in @ KSL5TV News at 18h. pic.twitter.com/SGOsKPOKLK
– Matt Gephardt KSL (@KslMatt) December 22, 2020
KSL investigators watched the neighborhood as couriers came and went up and down the streets around Parshall’s house – but never reached its road. What is happening?
No one from the USPS would talk about the situation on camera, but in a statement, a spokesman blamed a dog running wild on Parshall Street.
“The safety of our carriers is paramount,” wrote USPS officials. They added that “almost 6,000 carriers have suffered attacks from dogs” so far this year.
“I never had a problem with a dog,” Parshall told KSL.
So, where does all this leave Parshall and his neighbors?
After our calls, a postal manager left to personally deliver the mail to residents of the Parshall neighborhood and let them know that they are “working” on a solution.
We also contacted Salt Lake County Animal Services, which confirmed that there is an active problem with a dog in the neighborhood and specifically with a dog owner who has refused to follow the rules for several years.