Should you be paying for your PO Box in Steamboat?

February 6, 2023 Shannon Lukens

By Shannon Lukens.

The City of Steamboat Springs has been asked to join a lawsuit for potential litigation for substandard service at the post office. The City of Crested Butte is coordinating the efforts, which would involve eight other mountain communities against the US Postal Service. Those communities are Avon, Breckenridge, Buena Vista, Eagle, Parachute, Silverthorne, Snowmass Village, and Steamboat Springs. It is regarding the U.S. Postal Service’s obligations for postal service under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. City Manager Gary Suiter will bring it up at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

SHOULD STEAMBOAT SPRINGS RESIDENTS HAVE TO PAY FOR A P.O. BOX?

Another issue being brought up is how the Steamboat Springs Post Office charges for post office boxes. The US Postal Service website says, “A PO Box may be available for no fee, in specific situations, for those who are not eligible for home delivery.”

It’s called the United States Postal Service’s Universal Service Obligation. People who don’t have an option to get their mail delivered at home, shouldn’t have to pay for a post office box.

BUENA VISTA

This happened in Buena Vista where residents were charged for the mandatory PO Boxes, despite not having any way to receive mail. They fought back in the fall and now they no longer have to pay.

The full statement from USPS:

“The United States Postal Service, Buena Vista Postmaster James Wood, Congressional Representatives, and the Town of Buena Vista have been working together to review Buena Vista’s unique circumstances regarding Post Office Box delivery and to establish a free mode of delivery for every Buena Vista resident per the United States Postal Service’s Universal Service Obligation. Starting Jan. 2, 2023 the Buena Vista Post Office will offer free PO Box services to qualified Buena Vista residents within geographic delivery ZIP Code boundaries who are not currently served by a delivery route. Customers may apply for Group E (Free) PO Box service by completing PS Form 1093, Application for Post Office Box Service, and presenting it to the Buena Vista Post Office. Only one Group E (free) PO Box may be obtained for each delivery point of service, under certain conditions. Qualifying customers whose current PO Box rent expires between now and Jan. 2, 2023, may start the application process now. More information will be available as we approach the effective date of Jan. 2. The Postmaster will evaluate various criteria under DMM 508.4.5 and .4.8, including local laws, physical barriers and whether the customer is situated along an existing carrier route. Approved customers may experience a downgrade in box size, and they may be constrained to accept General Delivery if there are not enough PO Boxes to go around. The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.”

CLUSTER BOX CONFUSION

There is confusion in Steamboat Springs. The postmaster and one local postal employee said Monday that the City of Steamboat Springs has cluster boxes, or options for cluster boxes, available in all neighborhoods. Therefore, anyone who asks for a PO Box at the main post office to get their mail has to pay for it since they should be able to get mail delivered at home.

Steamboat Springs City Council woman Gail Garey says she does not have an option for mail delivery at her home downtown so she has to pay for a PO Box. Fellow council woman Heather Sloop has been having meetings with postal officials and bringing this up that not everyone has access to a cluster box in Steamboat Springs.

“If you live in a residence where you are unable to get mail at your house or your apartment, you should not have to pay for a PO Box at the post office. Other cities and municipalities throughout the state do not pay for their PO Boxes, and we have been told that this is what should be happening here, is that we should not have to pay.”

ONE RESIDENT GOT HER OWN CLUSTER BOX FOR HER NEIGHBORHOOD

Lori Mitchell lives in Old Town Steamboat and she was determined to get a cluster box for her street.

“I had to keep going back and forth, back and forth. Nobody could say, ‘This is how you do it,’ right? It’s as if I was the first resident to do this. It’s very bizarre. So I ended up doing it all myself. It took about two and a half years.”

Lori first went to her neighbors. No one knew, and no one wanted the cluster box on their property, but Lori said her corner was fine. Then she went to City Hall. No one knew what to do. The person at City Hall said she thought the city had bought a bunch of cluster boxes years ago that were sitting in an empty lot. Lori was passed around to different people. Then someone in public works said she needed to fill out two applications from them (a Right of Way permit and an application for a permit license), and then get a letter from the post office that said they would deliver the mail there. In the application to the city, she had to get permission from all utilities (Atmos, Qwest, Excel). Whoever was going to install it had to be licensed. She had to show maps where the cluster box would be. After the city’s paperwork was done, she went to the post office repeatedly, month after month, to find out what she had to do. It took another year. The postmaster finally said she’d write a letter of approval. That took another few months.

Then Lori had to find a cluster box. She went back to the woman at the city who said there might be some cluster boxes owned by the city. She went to an empty lot along 13^th Street. A man met her there. They had about 50 cluster boxes sitting outside, in very bad shape. The man said Lori could have one. She took the cleanest one she could find, took it home and cleaned it up more. It was installed by a neighbor who poured the cement and the neighbors who were getting a mail box in the cluster box pitched in for that cost. The neighbors paid for it themselves.

Then Lori went back to the post office. The postmaster said someone from Denver had to come up and put in new keys into the cluster box since they were rusted out. They waited for that. She went back to the post office and they said she had to get a list of who wants a box in the cluster box. She went to all of her neighbors and she got the list and went back to the post office and gave them the spreadsheet. Each person went in and signed up for the new box and they closed out their personal PO Boxes down at the main office.

Lori says it took two and a half years and she had to figure it out and do it all herself.

She said someone walking through her neighborhood asked her how she can get one for their streets. Lori showed her the file folder with all of her notes. The woman went to the post office and asked if she could start the process. Lori said the woman got “shot down,” and that she said the post office told her, “Nope, we’re not doing it.”

FULL INTERVIEW WITH LORI MITCHELL

HOW TO APPLY FOR A FREE P.O. BOX

Here is the link on how to apply for a free P.O. Box. LINK TO FORM The website says to fill out the form and take it into the post office and say it is for Group E which is the free postal box. The post office should then determine if you are on an existing carrier route to see if you qualify. Form to fill out

But post office employees we spoke with today in Steamboat Springs said they do not have to honor applications for Group E.

Also, the clerk staff has not been updated about this, as far as we know.

RESPONSE FROM STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

We reached out to the USPS Manager of Strategic Communications, David Rupert in Denver, specifically about people in Steamboat Springs and Routt County who are paying for a PO Box despite not having any other way to get mail. He said, “We’ve referred it to USPS Legal and our HQ Government Affairs team to research.”

He added, “Buena Vista had a very unique situation that took nearly two years to work through.”

MORE FROM THE FEDERAL LEVEL

We have also included the offices of US Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and US Representative Joe Neguse on our communications and requests for information.

Julie Sutor is the West Slope Regional Director for Congressman Joe Neguse. After a meeting with Routt County leaders about the problems at the Steamboat Springs Post Office, she wrote to regional postal officials on Feb. 3, “We ask that you please clarify USPS policy on fees for PO boxes charged to residents who do not have any options for residential mail delivery. We further request that you investigate whether the Steamboat Springs Post Office is abiding by all applicable USPS policies on this matter. If not, we ask that the Steamboat Springs Post Office immediately stop charging PO box fees to Routt County residents who do not have the option of residential delivery. We also ask that you implement a process to identify customers who have been charged fees in error and provide them with refunds as soon as possible.”

Sally Boccella is the regional director for Senator Hickenlooper’s office. She also wrote that this specific issue was brought to the attention of the regional postal service officials at the last congressional meeting and that she would like them to “address this issue directly.”

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Help Line 1-800-ASK-USPS
Send comments: https://emailus.usps.com/s/

More from USPS (also copied below with links):

Do you have a USPS Mail Delivery or Service Issue?

Below are some tips about what you can do to ensure your issue or concern is received by the right team at USPS who will work to resolve and track mail and postal service problems.

At the USPS website you will find multiple issue areas under which you can file at a complaint at https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/

In order to file a concern about general mail delivery, including multiple days with no mail delivery from a letter carrier, it is recommended that you file the online inquiry under “Where is my mail -> Daily Mail Delivery.” Here is the quick link for filing a daily mail delivery inquiry:

https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/daily-mail-delivery-inquiry

Note: The daily mail delivery inquiry can be traced to the letter carrier who is driving your delivery route. Alternatively, if you have a specific problem with a letter carrier or other USPS personnel (you do not even need a name) you can file that here: https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/personnel-inquiry

To initiate a missing mail inquiry for a lost or delayed package or parcel the mail must have been sent with a tracking number. It can be filed under “Where is my package.”

To file a general concern about a post office, you can file it under “Postal Facility.”

Speaking to a local postmaster or post office employee about a concern is fine, but that concern is unlikely to be properly logged into the system USPS uses for internal tracking of complaints, and therefore shouldn’t substitute filing an online inquiry.

More Steamboat Radio News coverage of issues at the Steamboat Springs Post Office: