Carrier Alert Program

... a lifeline to help, as close as your mailbox ...

If living alone worries you, the new Carrier Alert program can offer you the comfort of knowing that someone who visits your home regularly can call for help if you need it. This free service has been developed especially for older adults and the homebound - people who may have difficulty reaching vital services because of an accident or sudden illness.

Here is how it works:

Lomita residents who are disabled or 62 years of age or older may contact the City of Lomita at 310-325-7110 in order to receive a registration form and a Statement of Release. You then mail the completed forms to the City of Lomita, P.O. Box 339, Lomita, CA 90717.
The City of Lomita Housing and Community Development staff contacts you, and then notifies the Postmaster of your desire to participate in the program. Participants are known only to the City, the Postmaster, and letter carriers. Your letter carrier is then authorized to place a Carrier Alert symbol inside your mailbox. This symbol alerts all letter carriers to watch for mail accumulation.
If your letter carrier finds an accumulation of mail, and you have not covered the Carrier Alert symbol to signal that you are away for a few days, he or she reports your name to the postal supervisor, who in turn notifies the City of Lomita.
Lomita Housing and Community Development Staff then try to contact you by telephone. If you cannot be reached, we contact a friend or relative whom you have listed as a contact in the event of an emergency.
If a friend or relative cannot be reached, the City of Lomita sends a law enforcement officer to your home to check on your health and well being.

Carrier Alert, an all volunteer program, is a natural extension of the care that individual letter carriers traditionally have exhibited for their customers - not just in the delivery of the mail, but in a genuine concern for the well being of their customers. It has been customary for letter carriers to show particular consideration for customers on their routes whose health or advanced age require a little extra special attention.