INSIDE

Neither snow nor sleet nor border...

It wasn’t rain or sleet or gloom of night that almost made the Point Roberts mail miss the outbound truck in Blaine. It was the border.

Despite a well-established procedure for Point Roberts mail to reenter the United States in Blaine and head off for its final destination, on January 6 and 7 postal contractor Larry Musselwhite was held up at the Pacific Highway port of entry because he didn’t have a manifest for the contents of the truck. “It took me more than 40 minutes to get it straightened out,” he said.

Point Roberts postmaster Mike Lange said discussions with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervisors in Blaine resolved the problem. “The U.S. mail doesn’t need a manifest,” he said. “Never has. But we never did miss the truck in Blaine and that’s the important thing.”

CBP public affairs officer Mike Milne said the incident was due to a misunderstanding and confirmed the mail didn’t need a manifest. “All our officers will be reminded of that and there will be no further confusion,” he said. “The mail will get through in a timely fashion.”