Dear Virginia, (Virginia Foxx)

 Dear Virginia,

First, I am not writing about the existence of Santa Claus. I am writing concerning the existence of an even more mythical figure, the United States Postal Service. As I believe that the use of the word "Service" is questionable, so I will just call it the "Post Office".

Yesterday, I wrote a post for my blog, Random Moments of Lunacy, about my recent experience at the Post Office in Ruffin, NC. I thought that it was a great piece of work, but you are free to make your own decision. I have attached a copy.

After writing it, I attempted to send it to you by e-mail. I went to your official Congressional website and attempted to do that. Your system would not allow me to contact you because I do not live in your district. Imagine my confusion. The Ruffin Post Office is the one assigned to my address, but through the magic of constant redistricting, I live in a different congressional district. So, this system requires that I contact my congressional representative to deal with a problem outside of his district. I believe that the current trendy expression would be "Make this make sense!"

I spent my working life in the restaurant business. If I go to the McDonalds in Reidsville, which is in your district and have an issue, they don't tell me to contact the McDonalds in Yanceyville, in Brad Knott's district. I realize that good service and the government rarely share the same time/space continuum, but I am writing to you anyway. If it makes you feel any better, I am also writing Rep. Brad Knott about this even though the Ruffin Post Office is not in his district.

I live about one mile from the Rockingham County line, which is where your district starts or ends, you pick. What I find most interesting in this whole thing is that the letter that I found in the trash can at the Ruffin Post Office was sent to a person with a PO Box address at that Post Office. Does your system try to determine whether his actual physical address is in your district?  Or does his zip code +4 at the Post Office Box allow him to contact you?  I am just curious about how this works.

Since the low-cost e-mail won't work, I will return to Ruffin and send this through the Postal Service.

Thanks for allowing me to burn up some staffer's time to read this.

Gilbert Jones