Dozens of aquarium fish live in the plastic tubs that line Eric Lockhart’s living room wall. Lockart is trying to start his own business — he plans to breed the fish and sell them here in Petersburg.
“I have two red [whiptail] catfish,” he said, looking around. “I have a colony of guppies. I have a colony of shrimp, as well. I have three dwarf gouramis. I think I have five plecos around here.”
But Lockhart ran into a snag with his fish order last month. In Petersburg, like many Alaska communities, most people have to pick up their packages at the town’s only post office. And for months, a staffing shortage there has led to package delays, longer lines, and shortened hours.
Normally, Lockhart’s fish ship on a Monday and make it to Petersburg by Thursday. But the week before Indigenous People’s Day, his fish — about $300 worth — still weren’t in his box by Saturday. And unlike most Saturdays, nobody was working at the post office.
“I was like, ‘Well, now what do I do?’” Lockhart said. “Because if they sit here until Tuesday — because Monday was a holiday — everything will be dead.”
Petersburg’s post office has been struggling with staffing problems with since August, when some of its employees quit. At the time, the post office said new employees were on the way.
But the staffing shortages have persisted. The post office has seen what spokesperson James Boxrud called “unplanned absences,” and one clerk recently resigned.
In an email on Oct. 26, Boxrud wrote that the post office has hired a new clerk who will start training in November, and they will also be hiring for two more jobs.
In the meantime, postal employees from Anchorage, Homer, Haines and Ward Cove have been rotating through Petersburg to provide support.
“We know this has been frustrating for customers, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” Boxrud wrote.
KFSK also reached out to Petersburg’s postmaster, who referred questions to post office officials.
Lockhart was able to save most of his new fish. He put out a call on a Petersburg Facebook page, asking if anyone could share a post office contact.
Others commented on his post to share similar frustrations about the closure. But Lockhart was able to reach postal employees, who put his fish in a lockbox for him that Sunday.
Of the 25 fish Lockhard had ordered, eight had died.
Lockhart said he’s thankful for the postal employees who helped him, but the experience makes him nervous about upcoming orders.
“It was getting to that point that everything would have died,” he said.
