Several post offices throughout the country have been closed briefly after anthrax scares, but most have reopened after several hours with minimal service disruptions. Postal officials took pains to reassure customers that their mail – including direct marketing messages – was safe despite the incidents.
According to wire reports, mail delivery was 90 minutes late in the Akron, OH area on Tuesday after the post office on Wolf Ledges Parkway was evacuated twice when traces of a white powder was found. Test results for the powder had not been returned at deadline.
In Massachusetts, the Malden post office was shut for several hours on Tuesday morning after white powder fell out of an envelope that did not have a return address on it. The office was reopened after three-and-a-half hours, although results from tests on the powder will not be available for three days.
On three separate Hawaiian Islands – Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island – post offices were shut briefly on Monday. The Kauai authorities were alerted when postal inspectors noticed a series of oddly wrapped packages. The packages were wrapped in brown paper and stapled on all sides. They were later determined to be part of a promotional mailing sent out by a nonprofit religious organization.
In Thomaston, ME, a white powder found in mailbags last Saturday caused a post office to be shut down. The powder was since determined to be benign, and the post office was reopened Monday.
On Friday, the main post office in New Haven, CT was shut down, causing a service interruption to most of the city. Tests on a white powdery substance found in the bottom of a mail bin were negative.
These incidents follow several well-publicized events in which envelopes containing anthrax spores were traced to mail rooms at NBC Studios in New York City, American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, FL, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschele’s office in the Capitol.
Through it all, delivery disruptions have been minimal. “For the most part the postal service is still operating full steam ahead,” said Daniel L. Mihalko, postal inspector in charge of congressional and public affairs.
According to Mihalko, 1,900 postal inspectors have been assigned to the case, including those working with the joint terrorist task forces. In some cases postal inspectors that had been covering mail theft or embezzlement issues have been reassigned mail security duty. Additionally, personnel from the office of the inspector general are coming in to the processing plants to be part of the inspection service presence.
“We feel the mail is very much a part of the commerce of the country,” Mihalko said. “We encourage people to accept their mail with the caution that should be expected in these times.”
Mihalko continued, “Most of the things we are talking about when we talk about suspicious mailings are characteristics that are not exhibited by the mailings of direct mailers or direct marketers.”
As for the white substance found in post offices throughout the United States, “We live and work in an environment that has a lot of dust,” Greg Frey, a spokesman for the Postal Service said. He noted that under current conditions “Our customers are conscious of anything that looks like a powdery substance.”
Frey continued, “We are encouraging our customers to follow the CDC guidelines and to use common sense.”
The Postal Service has reiterated an offer it made to its employees in a March directive, in which it offered gloves and masks to any worker that wanted them.
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