Nearby Milton Post Office, which has approximately 5,000 delivery locations per day, is attempting to keep delivering mail to old addresses, but some mail must be returned to senders. “If we know where the customer lives, we deliver it,” said Milton Postmaster Frank McAroy. However, he said, new employees who do not know the customers have no choice but to return mail not properly addressed. Approximately 20 percent of the Milton customers are not complying with the new address system.

Rehoboth Beach Post Office is in a similar situation. An estimated 50 percent of its customers are not complying with the new 911 addresses. The office is still delivering to old addresses. “If we can ascertain where the mail goes, we deliver,” said Postmaster Tom Toner. However, eventually the automated postal equipment will not recognize old addresses and mail will be returned to senders.

“The system is that both addresses stay in the database for a year and are automatically cycled out a year later,” said Toner. “That’s just the way the system is set up.”

Most of the residences in eastern Sussex have been readdressed for the national 911 five-digit address project, although there is a small portion on Route 1 and the development Cherry Creek Valley for which the readdressing is not yet complete. The Lewes area was completed approximately two years ago, and residents were advised to notify their telephone companies, as well as all others with whom they interact via U.S. mail. The post offices, however, are still processing mail for people who failed to make the change.
“We’ve been sending out letters to those who are still using the old address,” said Lewes Post Office Postmaster George Tutlane. “We have to do it. The five-digit addressing is national, and the U.S. Postal Service complies with the county numbers.”

The post office is fully automated, he explained. “As of Sept. 15, the old addresses will drop out of the national database for the Lewes 19958 area,” said Tutlane.

“We don’t delay mail,” said McAroy. “We either deliver it or send it back, and sometimes you have to send it back if you don’t know where someone lives.” McAroy said people not complying with the new addresses is causing problems, although he noted for some mail, it is not the customer’s lack of cooperation that is the problem. “You can’t blame the customer 100 percent,” said McAroy. “A lot of customers had trouble with companies refusing to make the change.”

Milton customers could face significant problems in delays within the next couple of years, however. “We’re growing so much, and we’re hiring employees as the town grows,” said McAroy. That means carriers, who generally need at least six months to become familiar with the customers on their routes, will no longer necessarily know who the customers are by name alone, he said.

“It’s already causing a lot of problems,” said McAroy. “We do send out notices to customers to correct their addresses. There are things you don’t want to do but you just have to do.” He said he has addressed some home owners’ groups, and one of the things he tells them is, “You’ve got a new address and you failed to change it. That check you’re waiting for could go back.”

Tutlane said the local post offices waited for a long time to start enforcing the new address system, because several area communities contested the changes. The county heard cases and determined which developments could retain their addresses and which could not. “Those battles are won or lost now,” said Tutlane.

Safety at risk
In addition to the inconvenience from delayed mail delivery, those who have not notified the telephone companies of their 911 addresses are at risk of a delayed response time in an emergency.

The new five-digit addresses have a direct link to the 911 emergency system. An automatic number indicator (ANI) and an automatic location indicator (ALI) pop up on a dispatcher’s screen when someone calls 911. The system is linked to a mapping program that allows dispatchers to pinpoint a location. Sometimes additional information associated with the number is also included, such as the resident is disabled, has a heart condition or is deaf and needs telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) service.

Verizon maintains the database the county uses. Those whose addresses were changed to new 911 addresses were advised to return paperwork to the county, which in turn directs the information through the state and to Verizon. However, many people have not returned paperwork and not notified their phone companies - regardless of whether Verizon is their provider - so the database is not current.

“It’s imperative for people to get the 911 information included with 911-address notifications back to the county,” said Jeff Collins, Delaware State Police public safety answering point manager. “It could be the difference between a life or death situation.”

Although Verizon carries the bulk of the Sussex market, there are numerous other companies people use for telephone service, and they must also be notified. The information provided to those companies is ultimately forwarded to Verizon for the database. If that record is not correct, it what appears on the dispatch screen will not be correct.