Feds Say The Check’s In The Mail Storm-Delayed Social Security Payments Due To Arrive Today

Social Security checks for more than 11,000 retirees in the Inland Northwest should arrive today, after being held up for almost a week by storms throughout the West.

The Spokane office of the U.S. Postal Service chartered a plane from San Francisco to bring the checks and other mail to the region.

Sorters who usually finish their shift at 11 p.m. worked until 4 a.m. Tuesday to get most of the checks into the carriers’ pouches and to their owners.

Checks are scheduled to arrive on the third of each month, but bad weather in both San Francisco and Seattle hampered the mail flow inland, said Bob Hammerstad, customer relations coordinator for the Spokane district.

Crews would load the mail onto commercial flights headed for the Northwest, but the planes would stay on the ground and the mail would be unloaded. Only checks issued in San Francisco were delayed.

The Social Security office in Spokane has been inundated by calls and visits from retirees concerned about the checks.

Elsie Crume, 78, went to the downtown office on Monday, when her check didn’t arrive. She was among hundreds of people who waited in lines to talk to a representative.

“I found out just how lucky I am,” she said. “There are people who don’t have anything but that check.”

Crume said she has no house payment or car payment to make. And she received a check from her retirement plan last week that will tide her over until her Social Security payment arrives.

At Mid-City Concerns, where elderly downtown residents get two meals a day, staff members heard from several people who didn’t get their checks.

“They are worried about getting kicked out of their apartments for not paying the rent on time,” said Deanne Houston, manager of the senior center. I would hope that the landlords are understanding in this case.”

Many worried retirees have signed up for direct deposit to avoid similar problems in the future.

Anyone who still hasn’t received a check by today should call 1-800-772-1213 and request a new one be issued, Whitehead said. That should take three to five days.

In cases of dire need, money can be issued immediately, she said. Those requests must be made in person at the Social Security office at 811 E. Sprague.

, DataTimes MEMO: Changed from Idaho edition.