Readers sound off on slow mail, crowded buses and the love of reading

To whom is credit due for mistakes in the mail?

Bronx: The U.S. Postal Service has to do better. My Christmas package to my nephew was mailed on Dec. 15. He lives on the east side of the Bronx and I live on the west. He still hadn’t gotten it as of Dec. 28.

I used the tracking number on the receipt to track it down. Since Dec. 19, this is what it’s been saying: “Moving through network. In transit to next facility. Arriving late. December 19, 2023.” I contacted the post office from which it was mailed. They couldn’t tell me anything except that I can put in a claim after one month.

I mailed a package to California last year and it was sent to Canada! It eventually came back to us because there was no such address in Canada. My husband took the package back to the post office and pointed out the error to them. They were very apologetic and sent it overnight to the address in California. My husband mailed an important bill and he got a piece of paper showing our address. Apparently that was all that was left of the mail he sent. He had to go through the trouble of canceling the check, notifying the bank, etc. I sent a Christmas card to a friend in New Jersey and it arrived there with the top of the envelope almost torn off.

I have lived in America for more than 50 years and have never experienced these mishaps by the post office. USPS seems to need a shakeup in management. These happenings are atrocious. Pauline Graham Binder

Sweet memories

Plainview, L.I.: Do any Voicers remember a candy store called Barbara Ann’s right across the street from St. Barbara’s Roman Catholic Church on Bleeker St. and Central Ave. in Brooklyn? I remember going to the church when I was 6 and after Mass, we always went across the street to Barbara Ann’s candy store. I am 73 and I still remember those days. Frank Mauceri

High on tech

Brooklyn: Technology is ruining my generation. We don’t know how to use it. I get home from school and the first thing I do — pretty much subconsciously — is pull out my phone and open social media. If this is happening to me, a soon-to-be college student, imagine how much worse a middle-schooler who was just given a phone would be. The future generations will never truly learn time management with the abundance of technology and not knowing how to use it properly. Daniella Agayeva

Change of heart

Los Altos, Calif.: To Voicer Samuel J. Mark: Anti-Zionist organizer and former IDF soldier from Tel Aviv Meital Yaniv joined hundreds of Jewish activists and their allies to shut down the California state Capitol in Sacramento last Wednesday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and to condemn the roughly $600 million in California taxes used annually for U.S. military aid to Israel. Yaniv recalled how she was raised “extremely Zionistic,” her experience in the Israeli Air Force and her eventual turn to fight for Palestinian rights. “What Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with antisemitism. What Israel is doing right now is a genocide. What Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is apartheid, is occupation,” Yaniv says. “There is no need for any one of us to serve in the IDF. The IDF should not exist.” Jagjit Singh

Nothing new

Manhattan: To Voicer Carlotta Rhondi: Riding on buses and subways for decades before the recent migrant arrivals, I saw carriages blocking aisles and doors. Bus drivers would have to ask repeatedly for them to be closed. Words would be exchanged when entitled parents didn’t move the strollers for subway rides to exit/enter. People have been getting on buses and subways without paying for decades, the MTA was complaining about this before the migrants arrived. If Spanish-speakers look annoyed when people speak English, it’s because they see the look on those peoples’ faces when they hear Spanish being spoken and rightly believe they’re being disparaged. I’ve heard different languages spoken loudly on buses and subways and I’m not annoyed because it’s not English, I’m annoyed because of the loudness. By the way, people speaking loudly in English also annoy me. Everyone, citizens and migrants, needs to follow the rules when they choose to ride the buses and subways. Vanessa Enger

Warmer weather

Staten Island: If the asylum seekers are afraid of being out in the cold, or are otherwise unhappy with their free accommodations, I can think of a number of warm places we can send them: Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, Yemen. John Colella

Fan freedom

Brooklyn: Regarding Voicer Joan Tully’s complaint about Taylor Swift being seen too much at football games: There is no reason to blame her, she is simply at the game. She is not filming herself every second. Blame the TV crew and paparazzi for never leaving her alone. They are printing it and filming her. Doreen O’Leary

Stain on our name

Brooklyn: It’s a disgrace that Donald Trump is calling the criminals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 innocent hostages, saying he will pardon them if he is elected president. This is an insult to the United States of America. Charlie Pisano

Lesser charges

Malverne, L.I.: To Voicer Michael J. Gorman: Thank you for reading and responding to my letter. Stating that Trump having been charged with conspiring to defraud the government, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and two counts of obstructing a governmental proceeding equates to insurrection is a huge stretch. The statute for insurrection is 18 U.S. Code 2383, so why did Special Counsel Jack Smith not charge that? Because he knows it’s a stretch. By your logic, charging someone with harassment, menacing and assault equates to attempted murder. And yes, I did read the 14th Amendment, and “Confederate” not being mentioned does not negate the fact that it was written to address the issues that developed from the Civil War and the worry that Confederate sympathizers could infiltrate our government, which I had mentioned. In fact, Southern states risked representation in Congress if they did not ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments. David Kalin

Pencil-pushers

Staten Island: Now they want to pass a bill that makes police officers do more paperwork than is now needed. Our officers have been more about collecting revenue than fighting crime. Putting this bill into place will only make things worse. Let cops be cops. Enough with the snowflake attitude towards policing. Joseph Dohner

Start early

Pleasantville, N.Y.: Re “Reading, from the beginning” (editorial, Jan. 7): I agree wholeheartedly with the headline, but the beginning is not in school, it’s at home. I could read when I started first grade because my mother read to me and encouraged a love of books. My two sons did not learn to read in school, they learned it from their parents and grandparents, who read to them and encouraged a love of books. The same can be said of our five grandchildren. Too much education is put on the shoulders of schools. Reading needs to start at home. I would love to see a study asking is there any connection between childhood reading skills and the amount of reading that is encouraged at home. I’ll bet such a study would prove my point. Gary Dieckman

Flesh feast

Bronx: Apropos to Voicer Timothy Collins’s letter regarding Voicer Steven Brito’s letter about maggots: First, who swallows M&Ms straight from the bag with looking at them? Second, when I was a teenager, I buried a small dead bird and days later out of curiosity, I dug it up to find several small cocoons attached to its body. I put the cocoons in a jar and several days later I saw the cocoons were open and several house flies were flying around the jar. Ever since, I have avoided flies. The idea of being near an insect that spent its larval period eating a dead bird is absolutely disgusting. Arye Barkai