Cape Coral businesses vs post office: End late deliveries!

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Business owners are complaining about the late delivery of mail and are demanding the local post offices fix what they see as a preventable postal problem.

Nearly 200 businesses in the North Cape Coral Industrial Park have rallied against the post office for dropping of packages after business hours.

“We haven’t been getting our mail up here until 4 and 5 and even after 5 p.m., which for businesses is not really satisfactory,” said Margaret Barton, who owns multiple properties in the Cape Coral area.

Many of them fear the security of sensitive documents are being unattended for hours or even weekends.

“It’s this confidential information, you know? People’s credit card statements, checks, bank statements,” Barton said.

Their fears are not without merit, business owners said. Thieves got away with $38,000 in checks in a stolen mail incident in Industrial Park in 2015.

“We had a situation last year where they actually came through the park and stole all the mail out of all the mailboxes,” Richard Shepard, a North Cape Industrial Park Association board member, said. “You want to be sure that you don’t have it happen again. You have to try to protect yourself all you can.”

They want postal workers to change their routes to make businesses a priority.

“Businesses should be delivered before residential,” Shepard said.

The post office is preparing a statement.