Kokua Line

By June Watanabe

Thursday, August 7, 1997


New ‘city designation’
for Makakilo: Kapolei

My credit union checks have always had Makakilo as the address, but without my approval, they were changed to say Kapolei. The credit union said if I gave them a letter requesting the address be kept as Makakilo, they would fulfill my reorder request. I hand-carried the letter to the credit union, but then they told me that all Makakilo addresses had been changed to Kapolei at the request of the U.S. post office. Not that I have anything against Kapolei, but I have been living in Makakilo since 1981 and want my address to remain unchanged. Can you help?

There was a mix-up in communication, a spokeswoman for the credit union said. Your checks will reflect the Makakilo address "as an accommodation request because it is not in violation" of any Postal Service rule, she said.

She also said it was explained that, in so doing, "that may slow down the pace" of mail delivered to you.

Going back to who decided the "city designation" for your district would be Kapolei: It wasn't the Postal Service, said spokeswoman Felice Broglio.

In 1990, the City Council passed a resolution that the entire area would be named Kapolei, she said. In 1993, landowner Campbell Estate requested that all the subdivisions there be consolidated into Kapolei, including Barbers Point, Honokai Hale, Ko Olina and Makakilo, she said.

It's like saying Honolulu, Hawaii, instead of Kaimuki or McCully, Hawaii, Broglio said.

Asked what difference it makes if the correct ZIP code is used, she said, "Normally, our machines read the entire line and confirm and verify it," ultimately defaulting to a ZIP code. "But it still may cause confusion to say Makakilo instead of Kapolei and that's why we don't encourage it. The end result would cause a delay."

It would be company policy, not a postal-service mandate, if a company refused to use the Makakilo designation on your checks, Broglio said.

But "I would imagine most businesses would like to have correct addresses because it could present problems in the future or it might not match their data bases."

Also in Kokua Line:

Beware if seeking postal jobs

Mahalo





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