NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An East Nashville family is asking for some accountability after a Postal Service vehicle knocked over their mailbox.
The incident was caught on video, but they're having a tough time getting some help. The woman speaking to NewsChannel5 doesn't want to reveal her name but wants to speak out about her frustrations.
"Maybe this is kind of silly but this is the second time this has happened to our mailbox."
Neighborhood video captured the incident.
"It's a 7-second clip of our postal worker pulling up to the box. Putting mail in. It seems like they didn’t close the door and as they pulled away the box fell over."
This woman filed a claim, but she’s having trouble getting the Post Office to take responsibility.
"At first they said our postmaster reviewed the video and said it’s inconclusive. I laughed a little bit and said what’s inconclusive about it? She said oh well if the truck had hit it it would’ve fallen the other way.”
The U.S. Postal Service admits accidents sometimes happen.
They say they're working with the woman to resolve the issue, but she says they're dragging their feet.
"When I called at first their response was oh well the postal worker didn’t file an incident report."
Replacing the mailbox was a minor expense for her. She just wants USPS to acknowledge they may have been responsible and reimburse her.
"When accidents happen we have to have a little accountability for it. I have a feeling this happens often but most of the time people don’t have video."
Not long after her mailbox was knocked over, her neighbor's mailbox was taken out by an NES crew.
"They spent 30 minutes trying to dig in the ground and wobble it back in. Essentially just left with it laying on the ground.”
Here's what NES had to say about the damage their crew caused.
"Customers deserve to have their property cared for and that is why NES is responsive to any issue that may arise by nature of the work done. NES equipment can sometimes come into contact with the personal property of customers within our service area. Our employees do everything to avoid and make appropriate amends when NES is at fault. We are committed to making any repairs for damage caused by NES."
USPS's full statement:
"The U.S. Postal Service delivers to over 156 million addresses, six days a week and we take great care to protect both postal property and customers’ personal property. Unfortunately, rare instances of property damage do occur. We apologize for any inconvenience this incident caused for our customer. The Postal Service is governed by specific guidelines regarding tort claims filed by customers. In this case, we are working with the customer to resolve the situation and have provided her the contact information for filing a claim. Local postal management will continue to work with the customer to ensure repairs are made, within existing guidelines and regulations, in order to reach a fair and equitable resolution."
