Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. If we did you would get your mailed copy of the Times on time, every week.

Starting on Mondays and continuing throughout the week we receive dozens of phone calls from readers, some very irate, that their #1 source of news has not arrived.

There are several basic reasons. Years ago the U.S. post office allowed the Times to directly deliver the mail bags to each local town post office.

The U.S. Post Office, in an attempt to control and better serve (?) their customers decided that was insufficient. We are now required to deliver all copies of the mailed Times to the Post Office in Newark. From there, a postal truck takes them to the Rochester postal distribution point in the Town of Henrietta. Then they are sorted, shipped off to the same post offices we used to deliver to before the U.S. Post Office methods promised efficiency.

Yes folks, the Times newspaper, through U.S. Postal efficiency has ended up everywhere, including Timbuktu. One entire Wayne County mailing ended up in Pennsylvania. That was a particularly busy phone week at the office.

The eastern Wayne County towns are shipped to Syracuse and sloooowly find their way back to our local postal offices.

Out-of-state readers have received as many as three past issues of the Times in one day!

It used to be a bit more efficient -  tracking lost Times by simply calling the Henrietta distribution site. Again, the U.S. Postal Service decided we could no longer take that simple task and all calls for missing Times and sometimes entire towns  would be better handled through Buffalo.

We are on first name basis with many at the Buffalo complaint sector. They always promise solutions...again and again.

This past week we began receiving phone calls on Monday and the calls kept coming, sometimes by the dozens from eastern Wayne County, Monroe County and out-of-staters. We were perplexed/frustrated  beyond belief to put it mildly.

On Thursday the answer was revealed.

This time it was NOT the U.S. Postal Service!

The company we contract with out of Albany that prints the labels on the Times screwed up big time.  The crew on the machines never checked the labels and over 600 copies destined for delivery were missing addresses.

Yes folks, those missing trays of Times newspapers were delivered back to the Macedon Post Office in bulk.

All customers affected by this human snafu will receive a one week credit on their accounts. We have no papers for you.

Meanwhile, back at the Albany branch, apologies flooded in including a sizable credit. The chief contact worked with the crew labeling this week and continually sent us pictures of the Times labeling process as it was running.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.

Sometimes mailing labels are ripped in the shipping process. More that likely entire zip codes are misplaced, or mis-shipped by the U.S. Postal Service. Mind you, they do this all for efficiency.

Just a reminder to subscribers. Your account allows you to access each and every issue of the Times through your computer, phone, hand held devices. You can retrieve months of back issues if one is delayed/lost in the mail.

The week’s entire issue is posted  was delivered both by mail and  online only subscribers on Saturdays.

If you need a hand setting up and online account call the Times at 315 986-4300.

Meanwhile, if you are missing the Times in the mail continue to call and we will gladly set a fire under somebody’s butt at the all efficient U. S. Postal Service. If you are really pissed off and want to yell and scream, directly ask for Wife Patti.