The frustration among members of the Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen is palpable when it comes to the U.S. Postal Service.

All they are telling the Postal Service — and all they have been saying for years — is this: Let Granite Quarry be Granite Quarry.

But for rules and reasons that only make sense to the post office, most people who live within the town limits of Granite Quarry, a N.C. municipality more than 100 years old, have Salisbury mailing addresses.

The best explanation from the postal service is that because most mail delivered to homes and businesses in Granite Quarry originates from the Salisbury Post Office, it has to have a “Salisbury, NC 28146” address on the bottom line. Changing to something that makes much more sense — and Granite Quarry makes much more sense — is just too difficult it seems for a bureaucracy.

Evidence of this came quickly Oct. 1 when the town of Granite Quarry received its latest rejection letter from the Postal Service. This one came from Maged S. Aziz, district manager for the Mid-Carolinas District.

By the second paragraph Aziz was preparing to deliver the telling blow: “Changes are considered only if operational requirements of the postal service and interest of the community would be served,” he said. “At a minimum, approval of requests like this requires changes in mail sorting, schemes and transportation schedules, reprogramming our automated mail sorting equipment, revisions to directories and significant administrative costs.

“As a consequence, many communities throughout the nation have mail delivered from a post office with a different name than their community. ZIP codes and mailing addresses are intended to help provide prompt and accurate mail service regardless of the municipal boundaries of a state.”

Interpreted, Aziz is saying changing things would be too much trouble and too big of a hassle for the postal service. He neglects the years of confusion the Salisbury addresses have caused for Granite Quarry residents, especially since they have a post office and a ZIP code (28072), which the postal service will not allow to be used as the last line of the street delivery address.

Granite Quarry officials made a reasonable request before this latest rejection. They asked the postal service — and it took six months to get an answer — why not address street deliveries in Granite Quarry as “Granite Quarry, NC 28146?” That way, you would be keeping the precious 28146 ZIP Code that originates from the Salisbury Post Office, but you are being more accurate as to where the address actually is.

“While the Postal Service appreciates the identity and addressing concerns of local communities, we must be guided in the interests of service and efficiency,” Aziz said. “My review indicates this change is not fiscally sound.”

So let Granite Quarry be Salisbury, and let delivery trucks, tow trucks, GPS devices, tax offices, repo companies, law enforcement and DMV employees sort through the confusion.