USPS Is Closing More Post Offices, Effective Immediately
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The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does its best to get our mail to us on an almost daily basis, as well as provide regular access to postal facilities across the U.S. But there are certain things out of the agency’s control—including, of course, the weather. Last year, the USPS was forced to close hundreds of facilities in the South because of Hurricane Ian. Then this past winter, customers throughout the country saw their post offices shutter temporarily due to dangerous snowstorms. Now, new weather concerns are prompting dozens more closures, with several new additions just announced. Read on to find out about the latest USPS service suspensions.
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Postal customers in Vermont have been dealing with service disruptions this week. In a July 10 update to its Service Alerts website , the USPS announced that it had “temporarily closed” 25 different post offices within the state.
This first set of shuttered facilities were located in the following cities and towns: Barnard, Bethel, Bondville, Bridgewater, Cavendish, Cuttingsville, East Wallingford, Gaysville, Jamaica, Killington, Londonderry, Ludlow, Mount Holly, Peru, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Proctorsville, Quechee, South Londonderry, Sharon, Stockbridge, Taftsville, Tunbridge, Weston, and Woodbury.
Two days later, on July 12, the USPS announced that it had reopened 20 of those post offices. But operations have not resumed at facilities in Bridgewater, Ludlow, South Londonderry, Weston, and Woodbury.
That same day, the Postal Service also revealed that it had closed an additional post office in Vermont—this time in Johnson, at the facility on 115 Lower Main Street.
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In two of the Postal Service’s alerts from July 12, the agency indicated that post offices in Vermont were being shuttered temporarily “due to flooding.” At the beginning of this week, the state was hit with intense rainstorms that flooded streets and prompted evacuations and closures in the capital of Montpelier, CNN reported.
“Make no mistake, the devastation and flooding we’re experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott told reporters on July 11.
USPS Strategic Communications Specialist Steve Doherty also confirmed that was the reasoning for the post office closures in a previous statement to Best Life .
“Much of Vermont and portions of New Hampshire are dealing with severe flooding due to recent storms,” he said. “Many stations that aren’t underwater are inaccessible due to roads being washed out.”
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Right now, there are six previously closed post offices in Vermont that have not yet reopened: Bridgewater, Johnson, Ludlow, South Londonderry, Weston, and Woodbury. And in the latest Service Alerts update on July 13, the USPS announced that it is closing four more facilities in the state.
These new closures impact post offices in Cambridge, East Barre, Greensboro Bend, and Montpelier—making for a total of 10 currently closed facilities in Vermont.
Best Life reached out to the USPS to confirm that the new post office closures are due to flooding, and we will update this story with the agency’s response. But the National Weather Service (NWS) reported on July 14 that some parts of Vermont are already under new flood warnings , as more rainfall is expected this weekend.
In his previous statement, Doherty confirmed that the agency is working on “implementing continuation of operations plans” for some of the post offices, noting that they may need to relocate services for certain facilities “to neighboring communities until the water subsides and we can begin the cleanup operations necessary to get them back in place.”
“We know that state, local and federal officials are working diligently to reopen the roads, which will allow us to move the mail throughout the state,” Doherty added. “As areas are made accessible, we’ll be attempting mail delivery where and when it’s safe to do so.”
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It’s not just Vermont dealing with this issue. The storm also hit the Hudson Valley in New York and caused deadly flash floods in the area, The New York Times reported. Due to this, the USPS also closed two post offices in New York this week.
On July 10, the Postal Service announced that operations at been suspended at the Highland Falls Post Office. Then two days later, on July 12, the agency revealed that the same had just occurred at the Bear Mountain Post Office.
A spokesperson from the USPS previously confirmed to Best Life that both facilities had suffered water damage from the recent flooding.
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and plan to have the Bear Mountain and Highland Falls Post Offices reopened as soon as possible,” they said.
See a Sticker on Your Mailbox? Don’t Touch It, USPS Says
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Your mailbox serves a very simple purpose: receiving mail and leaving outgoing mail for a carrier to pick up. Still, some of us enjoy sprucing up our mailboxes, adding personal flair, color, or even decals to help an otherwise standard mailbox stand out. But if you notice a paw print sticker on your mailbox that you didn’t add, don’t start peeling it off just yet—it’s likely part of a program run by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to help keep carriers safe. Read on to find out what these stickers mean and why you shouldn’t remove them.
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In 2023, more than 5,800 Postal Service workers were attacked by dogs while delivering mail, up from 5,300 in 2022, according to a USPS press release.
Larger cities had the highest numbers of attacks, with Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland claiming the top five spots.
“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day,” said letter carrier Tara Snyder . “I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier.”
To her point, the USPS writes that “all dogs can bite, even those perceived as nonaggressive.” In fact, many of the attacks that letter carriers report are by dogs whose owners told them, “My dog won’t bite.”
Such an attack can result in consequences for the homeowner, too. According to data from the Insurance Information Institute, the average cost per insurance claim for a dog bite is $64,555, the USPS states.
“When a postal employee suffers an injury, the owner could be responsible for medical bills, lost wages, uniform replacement costs, and pain and suffering for the employee,” they explain.
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To combat dog bites, the Postal Service shared tips on how pet owners can “support safe mail delivery.” These include keeping dogs inside the house or behind a fence, away from the door or in another room, or on a leash.
“Pet owners also should remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child,” they state.
Mail carriers also follow protocol to keep them aware of areas where dogs might be present, and they’re equipped with scanners to remind them of possible dog hazards, as well as dog warning cards that are added during mail sorting.
In 2020, the USPS added another preventive measure: the PAWS Program . First introduced in Pennsylvania, the program uses mailbox stickers to keep carriers safe.
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The PAWS Program uses color-coded stickers affixed to mailboxes to inform mail carriers about dogs in the area. An orange sticker with a black paw print tells carriers that there is a dog at this home, while a yellow sticker with a black paw print tells them there is a dog at the next house.
Citizens are informed ahead of time that the stickers may appear on their mailboxes. In a notice sent to Lakewood, Ohio, residents, the Postal Service wrote, “Carriers will soon be placing a paw sticker on mailboxes to indicate that a dog or dogs live in the area —yellow indicates dog nearby/orange indicates dog at residence. The sticker will act as a reminder to the carrier that they should proceed with caution, especially when delivering packages to the door.”
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Removing these stickers may do more harm than good, as your mail service can be halted if your carrier feels unsafe. Not only does this affect the home of the dog owner, but it also applies to the entire neighborhood, the USPS said in a previous press release . Service isn’t restored in these instances “until the aggressive dog is properly restrained.”
At the end of the day, these stickers are put in place to “reduce the risk of dog bites and attacks that occur while delivering mail,” which is just another reason you should leave the sticker on your mailbox.
“We all love our dogs,” Kimberly Tilley , acting postmaster for Winston-Salem, told WGHP. “We love our animals, but we … have to take responsibility to protect the carrier and the people around us as well from our animals.”
Tilley added that dog bites are more common than you think, and they can be traumatic for carriers. “Once a carrier has been bit, it sets some fear in them long term for the rest of their life,” she told the outlet.
However, although these stickers are strongly recommended, if you object to having a sticker placed on your mailbox, you can opt out , Kyle Stevens , Southwest Carrier Annex station manager in South Dakota, told KELO in 2021. To do so, the first step would be to contact your local post office.
This story has been updated to include additional entries, fact-checking, and copy-editing.
