NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN, BUT CATALOGS DELAY MAIL.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

An avalanche of campaign mailers and holiday catalogs has delayed mail delivery by several hours in many areas of the Greater San Fernando Valley and even overnight in others, postal officials said Friday.

The problem is that mail volume has risen as much as 30 percent above normal in recent weeks, largely because the holiday shopping season this year has coincided with an election featuring several important local and national races, officials said.

As a result, mail carriers are arriving as late as 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., officials said.

And some have even cut off deliveries if it is too dark - contrary to the famous poem about the stoicism of carriers in ``gloom of night.''

``We always see an increase around this time of year because of the catalogs, but this year we also got slammed with all of the election mailings,'' said Terri Bouffiou, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.

To speed mail delivery, carriers are being paid overtime to start earlier, and the delays are expected to end after Thanksgiving, she said.

``There is just not too much we can do except ask our customers to be patient and realize that this peak period will end in a few weeks.''

Several Woodland Hills residents aren't satisfied with the explanation and claimed repeated inquiries to their post office have gone unanswered.

``This is very difficult on people like myself and my neighbors, who are elderly and some who are disabled,'' said Toby Covin, herself a senior citizen.

``These are people who rely on the mail to get them their Social Security checks or their other benefits, and sometimes the mail doesn't come at all. I do not get my mail until after 5 o'clock, and by that time everything has closed.''

Covin said her service has never been worse in the 35 years she has lived in her Philiprimm Street home. Several calls to her local post office have failed to produce an explanation, she said.

According to Bouffiou, the delays are caused by a large volume of irregular-sized items such as glossy campaign brochures and thick mail- order catalogs.

Mail carriers must sort the extra mail before they go on their route, delaying them from leaving post offices and slowing their deliveries.

For example, mail volume in Covin's ZIP code has reached 6.8 million pieces since Oct. 1. For the same period last year, Bouffiou said, mail volume topped out at 5.8 million pieces.

In the past week alone, 842,000 pieces of mail have been processed, compared with 736,000 from the same week one year ago.

Valleywide, officials report a 24 percent increase in volume from the same periods last year. Certain post offices in the Valley have experienced as much as a 30 percent rise, Bouffiou said.

``These are significant increases, and you have to remember that this only includes flat pieces of mail and not packages,'' she said.

The extra volume usually slows in the first weeks of December, when companies stop sending out catalogs and post offices bring in extra help to deal with holiday packages.

Bouffiou said that the postal service has no set time by which they want deliveries finished, but use nightfall as a general rule.

Carriers have been coming in early to sort the extra mail, she said, and are working a couple of hours overtime to get their routes completed.

Mail carrier Steve Haueter, who has worked a Woodland Hills route for seven years, said he has come to expect huge volume at this time of year.

``Some people along the route get upset when their mail is delayed, but once I explain to them what is going on, they seem to understand,'' Haueter said.

Haueter said that sorting the extra mail volume takes him up to two hours longer than usual and adds at least an hour to his 284-unit truck route.

It makes his walking route much more difficult as well, he said.

``That big bag in the back of the truck is ready and waiting for tomorrow's mail,'' Haueter said. ``Luckily the people on my walking route don't seem to get as many catalogs, but it still makes the bag pretty heavy.''

Jack Blumin, who lives along Haueter's Flamingo Street truck route, said he understands the problem.

``My wife is probably the No. 1 culprit, with all of the catalogs she gets,'' Blumin said. ``One day we got so many that the mailbox broke.''

But despite the explanations and a postal service promise to try to solve the problem, other residents say the delays are not acceptable.

``I do not see how the postal service can keep raising rates and giving this kind of service and expect people not to stop using them,'' said Woodland Hills resident Kim Masterson.

You've Got Late Mail

Postal officials say a crush of election mailers and holiday catalogs has backed up mail delivery.

ZIP codes 91000-91699; 93000-93199; 93400-93599

San Fernando Valley; east from Burbank to Pasadena; north to Santa Barbara; Mojave Desert area, including Palmdale and Lancaster

Since Oct. 1: 144,200,000 Week of Nov. 5-11: 18,866,000

Same period, 1999: 129,564,000 Same week, 1999: 15,240,000

ZIP codes 91300-91699 San Fenando Valley

Since Oct. 1: 86,520,000 Week of Nov. 5-11: 11,319,600

Same period, 1999: 77,738,400 Same period, 1999: 9,144,000

ZIP codes 91367,91364, 91302 For Woodland Hills:

Since Oct. 1: 6,775,000 Week of Nov. 5-11: 842,000

same period, 1999: 5,827,000 Same week, 1999: 736,000

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) U.S. Postal Service carrier Steve Haueter shows some of the catalogs and advertisements he has to deliver on his route.

(2) U.S. Postal Service carrier Steve Haueter says that sorting the extra mail volume takes him up to two hours longer than usual and adds at least an hour to his 284-unit truck route.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

Box: You've Got Late Mail (see text)