Question: On Sunday I attempted to drop off a “click and ship” box at the airport post office location, which has a 24-hour self-service kiosk. The drop box was locked and no packages could be deposited. There were several customers who wanted to drop off packages at the time, too. Does the post office plan to monitor the drop box during the holiday season to make sure it can accept packages during the hours the post office is not open? This would help to keep lines short during business hours.
Answer: Kokua Line contacted Duke Gonzales, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Honolulu, who provided the following response:
“We apologize for the inconvenience experienced by your reader. During the busy Christmas mailing season there are occasions when the package drop-off receptacles for the self-serve kiosks become so filled or backed up that they cannot accommodate more items. Sometimes this is due to a steady flow of customers dropping off packages, sometimes it is a result of a single postal customer depositing a large number of packages into the chute all at once. Our clerks are doing their best to monitor the package receptacle chutes and clear out any backups during this extremely busy holiday season. Because it can only take a few minutes and a single customer with many packages to completely fill up or back up the chute again, however, situations such as the one described by your reader can still occur. Customers who wish to ensure that they can turn over their packages to us after conducting a Self-Serve Kiosk transaction should check the package-receptacle door before proceeding with that transaction. Customers who don’t realize that the package receptacle is backed up until after they complete their transactions can either drop it into a package receptacle at another post office or, even easier, simply hand it to their mail carrier, at home or at work,” wherever is most convenient.
Q: Has that superbug they’re calling “the phantom menace” been seen here? …
A: Yes, Hawaii is among the 19 U.S. states where a particularly dangerous strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been confirmed, according to a report last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, only one of the 43 patients documented nationwide over a five-year period was from Hawaii, according to the report.
The report looked at cases from June 2010 to August 2015. California accounted for 10 cases and Illinois eight during that time period; the other affected states had from one to three cases.
Scientists warn that the type of superbug highlighted in the CDC report is on the rise and that the 43 documented cases likely represent the tip of the iceberg nationwide.
It is considered so serious because it is deadly, tricky to detect, difficult to treat and has the ability to transfer antibiotic resistance to bacteria normally present in human bodies — hence “the phantom menace” moniker, which is a play off the blockbuster “Star Wars” movie series and much easier to remember than the bacteria’s scientific description: “carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae producing OXA-48-like carbapenemases.”
To read the full CDC report, see 808ne.ws/ 21KQBw5.
Mahalo
Going through TSA security at any airport, although essential and necessary, can prove to be the most demeaning and intrusive aspect of air travel these days. Enter “Mary” of the Transportation Security Administration at Kahului Airport! Mary was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stifling procedure. She was cheerful, welcoming, informative and accommodating while still performing all of her security tasks with efficiency and thoroughness. Thank you, Mary! You made my travel to Maui most enjoyable, and I hope your manner inspires and affects the other TSA personnel! — A traveler
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
