The Washington Post reported Thursday that approximately 25 trash bags worth of undelivered mail had been found “in two catch basins at Anacostia Avenue NE and Douglas Street NE.” DC Water crews spent Monday and Tuesday fishing it out. The US Postal Service commented that it “takes mail delivery seriously and is committed to discovering the cause of this incident.”
How did it get there? The answer remains unclear, and there is absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Postal Service. But that’s a lot of mail to misplace and then forget about.
But it does remind us an awful lot of a certain Seinfeld episode in which Newman—angling for a transfer to Hawaii, the most coveted route for all postal carriers—is discovered to be hiding bag upon bag of undelivered mail in Jerry’s storage locker. He needs to get his delivery rate up and can’t possibly complete his route every day because the mail never stops…it just keeps coming and coming…
Hillary writes about interiors, real estate, arts, and culture. She is the former digital media editor of The New Republic, and her work has also been published in Glamour, The New York Times Book Review, and The Washington Post, among others. You can follow her on Instagram @hillarylouisekelly or on Pinterest @hlkelly.
