Buena Vista residents at the base of Colorado’s Sawatch mountains who for years had to pay to receive U.S. mail — and last summer protested in streets about fees and poor service — have prevailed.
U.S. Postal Service officials acknowledged a failure to meet their legal obligation to serve everybody and declared they’ll provide no-fee mailboxes starting next year. Each resident must fill out an application for a mailbox where they’ll be able to pick up letters and small parcels.
“We’re relieved,” said Mary Ann Uzelac, a retiree who’d been paying $166 a year and helped organize the protests. “I didn’t know anybody in a large city who had to drive to get their mail at a post office box and then pay for the box. It wasn’t fair.”
She’ll spend that money on groceries, gas, maybe a few meals at restaurants. “And now I can hit a golf ball once in a while.”
Fellow organizers of the protests in Buena Vista (pop. 2,500) calculated residents collectively paid more than $300,000 a year to the USPS, an agency that has been struggling financially. Now that money will stay with residents who, if they spend it locally, will boost local businesses.
“It’s a significant amount. We can spend it on shopping now or other services, like having your house painted. These things are going to be done by a local company,” Mayor Libby Fay said, noting she’s been paying $212 a year.
“That money will stay in our community rather than going out to the U.S. Postal Service budget.”
Postal administrators conducted a review of their practices in Buena Vista, said James Boxrud, an agency spokesman, and determined that “we will no longer charge people in town who have no other means of delivery.”
The USPS in Buena Vista still is short three clerks and three carriers “and our current employees are doing all they can to serve their customers,” Boxrud added.
“We know we have not met service expectations of the community and are working hard to restore the respect of the public. For many months, we have been aggressively seeking both clerks and carriers to stabilize our workforce. These challenges are not unique to our mountain and resort communities like Buena Vista. The advent of the pandemic, the increase of consumer use of ordering necessities online and the national employment challenges have exacerbated this for many communities.”
For years, the USPS charged Buena Vista residents for post office boxes to receive mail (about $166 a year depending on size) while people outside town boundaries in Chaffee County received mail delivered to their homes with no fee.
While residents in Buena Vista protested, residents of other towns around Colorado — including Crested Butte, Gypsum, Kiowa and Avon — also raised concerns about shoddy service, reduced hours, long lines and in some cases fees.
“Each town where customers believe that USPS is not adhering to the Universal Service Obligation is being reviewed separately,” Boxrud said, citing Crested Butte as an example.
Responding to Denver Post queries in July, postal officials said they’d re-evaluate whether no-fee boxes should be available in Buena Vista and Crested Butte. They said they’ll ensure bigger post offices in areas where populations have grown.
The USPS has struggled nationwide, losing billions, relying on old delivery vehicles, as email usage expands. Mailboxes on streets around the country have decreased from 360,000 in 2002 to 139,866, federal records show. Poor service also has emerged as a concern with residents alleging delayed deliveries and mistakes and lamenting long lines and reduced hours at post offices.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet got involved in Colorado, deploying local staffers to negotiate.
Postal problems often are felt acutely in rural areas and among the elderly who rely heavily on mail for medications.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to establish post offices. The Supreme Court has deemed mail essential for democratic self-rule. “Universal access” is legally required.
President Joe Biden signed the Postal Service Reform Act this year that initiated an overhaul meant to improve service, allowing the USPS to save $50 billion over a decade on employee health costs. Promised reforms include guaranteed delivery of mail within six days.
