By Elizabeth Neff Tribune Staff Writer August 9, 2000 Letter carriers in towns from Roselle to DeKalb were busy delivering Social Security checks Tuesday, many making special trips into the late afternoon to personally hand the payments to their recipients after the last batch of missing checks was located.

For people such as Lucille Marino, 73, of Schaumburg, the delivery was a relief.

"Every day I asked my mailman where the checks were, but he said he didn't know," Marino said. "I figured if I didn't get it, next month I would really be in bad shape."

Marino said her 97-year-old mother-in-law depends on the funds to pay for expenses at an assisted-living facility. An Italian immigrant who worked for years as a seamstress but never learned to read or write, she is confined to a wheelchair; Marino receives the checks and takes care of her finances.

Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service and Social Security Administration were unable Tuesday to explain what caused the snafu.

Hundreds of concerned recipients called the administration after failing to receive their checks as usual Thursday, the third day of the month.

Many, including Marino, were reissued payments. Those who receive two checks should mail or bring one of them to their local Social Security office, said Mary Jarrett, a spokeswoman in the agency's Chicago office.

The checks were sent out from a U.S. Treasury Department facility in Kansas, according to Tim Ratliff, a postal spokesman for the Northern Illinois District. They normally go to postal processing centers in northern Illinois and then on to local post offices.

The holdup in delivering the August payments affected Social Security recipients in Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Elgin, Woodstock, Roselle and DeKalb.

Ratliff could not say what caused the delay. Neither could Jarrett, who called the incident "extremely unusual" and added that it prompted a number of previously skeptical seniors to sign up for direct deposits to their bank accounts.

Slightly more than 400,000 Social Security payments are delivered by mail to Illinois recipients each month.

"We are still concerned about it, and I'm sure we will continue to work together until the source of the problem is found," Jarrett said.

LATE CHECKS FOR SENIORS FINALLY ARRIVE

By Elizabeth Neff Tribune Staff Writer August 9, 2000 Letter carriers in towns from Roselle to DeKalb were busy delivering Social Security checks Tuesday, many making special trips into the late afternoon to personally hand the payments to their recipients after the last batch of missing checks was located.

For people such as Lucille Marino, 73, of Schaumburg, the delivery was a relief.

"Every day I asked my mailman where the checks were, but he said he didn't know," Marino said. "I figured if I didn't get it, next month I would really be in bad shape."

Marino said her 97-year-old mother-in-law depends on the funds to pay for expenses at an assisted-living facility. An Italian immigrant who worked for years as a seamstress but never learned to read or write, she is confined to a wheelchair; Marino receives the checks and takes care of her finances.

Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service and Social Security Administration were unable Tuesday to explain what caused the snafu.

Hundreds of concerned recipients called the administration after failing to receive their checks as usual Thursday, the third day of the month.

Many, including Marino, were reissued payments. Those who receive two checks should mail or bring one of them to their local Social Security office, said Mary Jarrett, a spokeswoman in the agency's Chicago office.

The checks were sent out from a U.S. Treasury Department facility in Kansas, according to Tim Ratliff, a postal spokesman for the Northern Illinois District. They normally go to postal processing centers in northern Illinois and then on to local post offices.

The holdup in delivering the August payments affected Social Security recipients in Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Elgin, Woodstock, Roselle and DeKalb.

Ratliff could not say what caused the delay. Neither could Jarrett, who called the incident "extremely unusual" and added that it prompted a number of previously skeptical seniors to sign up for direct deposits to their bank accounts.

Slightly more than 400,000 Social Security payments are delivered by mail to Illinois recipients each month.

"We are still concerned about it, and I'm sure we will continue to work together until the source of the problem is found," Jarrett said.

LATE CHECKS FOR SENIORS FINALLY ARRIVE

By Elizabeth Neff Tribune Staff Writer August 9, 2000 Letter carriers in towns from Roselle to DeKalb were busy delivering Social Security checks Tuesday, many making special trips into the late afternoon to personally hand the payments to their recipients after the last batch of missing checks was located.

For people such as Lucille Marino, 73, of Schaumburg, the delivery was a relief.

"Every day I asked my mailman where the checks were, but he said he didn't know," Marino said. "I figured if I didn't get it, next month I would really be in bad shape."

Marino said her 97-year-old mother-in-law depends on the funds to pay for expenses at an assisted-living facility. An Italian immigrant who worked for years as a seamstress but never learned to read or write, she is confined to a wheelchair; Marino receives the checks and takes care of her finances.

Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service and Social Security Administration were unable Tuesday to explain what caused the snafu.

Hundreds of concerned recipients called the administration after failing to receive their checks as usual Thursday, the third day of the month.

Many, including Marino, were reissued payments. Those who receive two checks should mail or bring one of them to their local Social Security office, said Mary Jarrett, a spokeswoman in the agency's Chicago office.

The checks were sent out from a U.S. Treasury Department facility in Kansas, according to Tim Ratliff, a postal spokesman for the Northern Illinois District. They normally go to postal processing centers in northern Illinois and then on to local post offices.

The holdup in delivering the August payments affected Social Security recipients in Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Elgin, Woodstock, Roselle and DeKalb.

Ratliff could not say what caused the delay. Neither could Jarrett, who called the incident "extremely unusual" and added that it prompted a number of previously skeptical seniors to sign up for direct deposits to their bank accounts.

Slightly more than 400,000 Social Security payments are delivered by mail to Illinois recipients each month.

"We are still concerned about it, and I'm sure we will continue to work together until the source of the problem is found," Jarrett said.

http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/northwest/article/0,2669,SAV-0008090247,FF.html

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), August 09, 2000