Doctor's letter missing

Linzer’s letterbox remained empty for two weeks

Berthold Amerstorfer waited three weeks in vain for his letters, but on Tuesday they all arrived at once. One was postmarked August 29.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Because an important letter from a doctor had not arrived, a pensioner asked the post office. Suddenly, the 64-year-old from Linz received 19 letters that he thought were lost. The post office ruled out the possibility of a delivery failure.

Berthold Amerstorfer (64), former Linz FP city councillor and ex-head of the Linz waste collection service, is annoyed: "I haven't received any mail for at least the last 14 days." Neighbors were also affected: "One of them went on vacation on 4 September. He didn't have any mail before that, and when he came home he didn't either."

After Amerstorfer and his wife had been waiting for a letter from a doctor, who assured them that he had sent it long ago, the pensioner became suspicious and contacted the Post's complaints hotline. They promised to call him back as soon as the problem had been solved. Amerstorfer is still waiting for this call.

Suddenly the mailbox was literally overflowing.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Suddenly everything came at once
But at least the letters turned up. "Three hours after the phone call, I went to the postbox and suddenly there were 17 letters and two magazines inside. There was also an invitation to a meeting I was supposed to attend, but it was on Monday. The oldest letter was postmarked August 29."

The post office reacted with surprise to the "Krone" inquiry: "I can rule out the possibility that there has been no delivery to this address for three weeks. The regular deliverer was not on duty for some time and other deliverers were responsible for this area. But even then, there were only isolated days when there were delays due to sick leave."