Special delivery

Theresa Schlossarek displays a high school graduation invitation, bearing a June 2, 1987, postmark date, that her nephew sent her nearly 22 years ago. The Observer/ANTHONY WILLIAMS

Last week, Schlossarek was surprised to find an envelope in her mail already opened, but it was the June 2, 1987, postmark date that left her dumbfounded.

“We just thought that she lived so far away, she couldn’t come,” he said. “She usually would send money, though, so we did joke about that later on, that maybe she could send some and add interest for the years passed.”

After graduating from high school more than two decades ago, Schlossarek’s nephew, Michael Ilnseher, is now an assistant principal at an Atlanta-area high school. He said he honestly didn’t remember his aunt not receiving an invite and felt bad for it.

“I never realized something could be lost for 22 years like that,” Michael said. “I was just really surprised. I told people at work and one woman doesn’t believe me.”

Schlossarek asked her brother Hermann if there were supposed to be any pictures enclosed — there was only her nephew Michael’s name card — but her brother was hard-pressed to remember what they put in the mail so long ago. He was surprised the post office didn’t charge for the extra postage to deliver it.

“If it’s postmarked, we’re obliged to deliver it,” said Peter Hass, spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service’s Portland district.

While Hass said it could’ve been stuck in machinery, if it had been misrouted and delivered to the wrong address, which would explain the mail being open, and placed back in a mailbox today, the post office would still take care of it.

“The sanctity of the mail is extremely important to the post office,” he said. “Mail from New Jersey to Oregon should be delivered within two to three days, so obviously this is very unusual and very unfortunate.”

The Postal Service does not keep record of lost mail, and the only items customers can make claims for if not received are those that are insured. But Hass noted the most recent national on-time performance score of 96 percent for delivery of first-class mail, covering the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Schlossarek plans on framing the invitation, and was at ease knowing someone official delivered the invitation and not a stranger. Hermann said this was one of those things “that always happens to someone else,” but if anything it bolstered his confidence in the country’s Postal Service.

“It never sleeps, and no matter how long it takes, they deliver!”