The town needed an 80 percent response, but the U.S. Postal Service only received 53 percent in return.
ROBBINSVILLE -- The U.S. Postal Service has denied the township's bid for its own zip code, saying they did not receive enough responses to a petition mailed to residents that asked them to vote on the change.
The town needed an 80 percent response, but the postal service only received 53 percent in return.
An angry Mayor Dave Fried released the postal service's response letter Thursday, criticized the process and methodology and vowed an appeal.
"The process was a disgrace that was set up for us to fail from day 1," Fried said in a statement.
"This is the exact opposite of transparency in government, and it's exactly what people hate about government. It's embarrassing, frankly," Fried said. "If the postal service didn't want this measure to pass, for whatever reason, they should have just said that and not subjected our residents to this veritable dog-and-pony show."
The town was seeking to have the zip code 08691 officially designated as Robbinsville.
The postal service recognizes 08691 as Trenton.
On the service's website, Hamilton and Robbinsville are listed as other recognized city names for the code, but it advises users to use Trenton "whenever possible."
Town officials hoped that the change would cap a years-long effort for Robbinsville - which changed its name from Washington Township in 2008 - to create its own identity.
The last step in the zip code process was a survey the postal service mailed to all township residents in May, with a return date of June 10.
For the effort to move forward, officials have said. Eighty percent of residents must reply, and 75 percent of respondents must be in favor of the change.
A message left with a postal service district manager in in New Jersey was not immediately returned.
N.J. town: Make us 'Robbinsville, 08691'
Fried publicized the effort in May and publicly urged all resident to respond.
The letter from the postal service said they mailed surveys to 5,263 addresses and received 2,897 responses, which the letter said was only 51 percent.
The percentage is actually just over 53 percent, and Fried pounced on it.
"They did not even calculate their own figures correctly, and still refuses to release the actual numbers as to how people voted," Fried said. "The (postal service) will not submit a list of who it actually mailed the surveys to. Government is supposed to work together."
Fried said the law, and postal service policies, say a simple majority, or 51 percent is all that is needed. "We achieved that," he said.
Fried said the town will not give up in the quest.
"We want another chance, a fair chance, to change to a unified zip code of 'Robbinsville, 08691.' I encourage every resident unhappy with this result to write the USPS and express their displeasure."
Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, (D-Mercer), who also aided in the effort, said in a statement that the postal service seems to have turned a "deaf ear" to the township.
"The (postal service) cannot continue to ignore the residents. We will continue to work together as local, state and federal leaders to make sure that there is a proper, transparent way to fixing the mail service problems in Robbinsville," DeAngelo said.
Town officials say more than identity, a dedicated zip code would change things like online mail order systems, which can default to Trenton when 08691 is entered, as well as GPS systems.
And, town officials have said, some of the 14,000 residents are served by up to five zip codes, some belonging to Trenton, and some associated with Hamilton or Hightstown.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.