Three zip codes but no Byram address for township residents

Byram - When Steve and Sarka Jones decided to move back to the United States after nine years of living in the Czech Republic, they wanted to find an area that mimicked the country where Sarka was born and Steve had come to love. “The Czech Republic is very hilly and green,” explained Sarka. “There is a lot of nature and it was important for me to raise my children in that kind of environment.” The Jones looked all over Sussex County and decided to purchase a home in Byram. As residents of the municipality, the Jones pay Byram taxes, their kids go to Byram schools, but their mail is sent to an address in Sparta. That’s because Byram does not have its own post office or zip code. In fact, the township is serviced by three different post offices and residents, even neighbors can have mailing addresses from Sparta, Andover or Stanhope. That can create a lot of confusion and frustration, according to Jones. “It is very difficult because we always have to explain to workmen coming to the house that we don’t really live in Sparta,” said Jones. “And we don’t get town news. Because of our address, we always get the Sparta Recreation Department newsletter, but we are not eligible to use those services. It is very difficult to get the Byram recreation information. And we don’t get the town weekly newspaper. We only get the Sparta paper.” Living in one town and getting mail addressed to another is fairly common in New Jersey, according to Andover Post Master Paul Kelly. Kelly is responsible for delivering mail to several different towns in the area and even out of the county. “We deliver mail all over the area,” said Kelly. “We even deliver to Warren County, going through county lines.” Confusion occurs, explained Kelly, because residents don’t realize they have two addresses when they move into their new home. “There are routes that use mailing address and addresses that are the actual residence. Normally they coincide, but when you move into more rural areas you have more situations where they don’t,” said Kelly. “The problem is that the public doesn’t know the difference and it creates issues.” And the problems are not confined to the residents. It isn’t so easy for the various post offices either. For instance, there is a Hemlock Terrace in Sparta and a Hemlock Terrace in Byram. Frequently the mail gets mixed up, so much so that Byram was asked to modify the name of the street. The residents, however, said no. So, neither sleet nor snow nor rain can stop the mail from being delivered, but having the same mailing address in two different towns may. However a spokesman for the Sparta post office asserted they are making the best of a tough situation. “It is very difficult because there are sometimes five or six addresses on one street (in Sparta) and two or three of the same address on the other street (in Byram). But the carriers just have to pay extra attention to the mail when sorting it,” he said. Byram officials are doing what they can to change the situation, and according to Township Manager Greg Poff, they are looking to Washington, D.C. for assistance. “We are reaching out to Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen’s office for help,” said Poff, noting that Sandiston had a similar problem but was able to work out a solution with the U.S Mail system. “Sandiston was not able to create its own zip code but is now able to put the Sandiston name using other area zip codes. We would look to propose to use ‘Byram, New Jersey’,” added Poff. The Andover post office is also doing what it can to help residents understand the situation and get the mail delivered correctly. According to Kelly, Andover is part of a pilot program geared toward building a better relationship between the post office and its customers. “We are setting up management work teams with rural carriers so that when new residents move into an area the carriers give them all kinds of information to help the public a little bit. They (the carriers) can explain the difference between a residential address and a mailing address,” said Kelly. While Byram officials do what they can to put Byram on the postal map, the 3,200 households in the township still must have their mail addressed to other towns. “It’s so frustrating,” said Jones. “We love living in Byram, but it seems that we are always the stepchildren of Sparta.”