Tip List: It's a dark and stormy night -- every evening at the post office

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" can keep our nation's trusty postal service from its work, as its slogan goes.

But dark nights could keep Mercedians from approaching the post office.

"Most of the time it's darker than a son-of-a-gun out there," said John Beavers, 72, who has regularly visited various local postal boxes over the years.

The loyal sender became concerned a few weeks ago when his wife returned from an evening drop-off and reported a severe lack of lighting for the parking lot and front mailbox area.

The single light is posted high above the ground and does nothing to illuminate the office's tiny plot of pavement. "There's one that flickers and that's all," Beavers said.

He and his wife go to the post office once or twice, every other week. They reported the problem to the front desk several times, he said.

A call to the office's maintenance department confirmed that workers knew about the problem and had put in a repair request to the San Francisco field service office. They called to check on progress earlier this week.

I put in another call to Augustine Ruiz, a public information officer for the U.S. Postal Service in Sacramento. After a few minutes, Merced Postmaster Chuck Mittan called back.

Mittan said the Merced maintenance department handles many issues around the post office, but a specific request had to be made for this project, given the electrical and high-flying work involved.

"This has definitely been escalated to an urgent priority," the postmaster reported. "It should be fixed very shortly."

I submit no fancy introduction for my first Tip List column, but I'll say this: I'm a Type-A problem fixer, so when you see blight, decay or something that's just plain wrong in our town, give me a call.

What is wrong: There's no lighting at the M Street post office at night.

Who is responsible: The Postal Service.

What's being done: A maintenance crew should repair the burnt-out bulbs soon.

Tip off the tip list!

If you see something broken or in need of repair in your neighborhood, call the Sun-Star Tip List reporter, Danielle E. Gaines, with your tips at (209) 385-2477 or e-mail her at dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.

Also, keep track of your problem areas on the Sun-Star's Tip List Map.