Thousands of Eastern Sierra residents now go through the big, corporate change related to how they talk on the phone. We mean the big AT&T acquisition of Alltel and the confusion many have experienced over the transition – new cell phones, uncertain dates and the hope that communication will continue and even improve.

For the Eastern Sierra post offices, the AT&T takeover of Alltel now means the delivery of thousands of phones via parcel post. For Mammoth Lakes, the flood of phones has caused lots more work in a town where there is no street delivery.

Mammoth Postmaster Gary Fultz said that the phones have started to arrive and that there will be 4600 possible deliveries. When the phones arrive, workers write up the parcels and process the delivery with yellow cards going in post office boxes for customers to come to the counter and ask for their phones.

Postmaster Fultz urges customers to pick up your yellow cards and your phones. He said that at the Mammoth Post Office they will have to install more cages in the back room to hold the thousands of additional parcels. And, it’s all just in time for the holidays.

So, help out the post offices locally and pick up those phones!