USPS Is Suspending Services in These Places, Effective Immediately
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The summer season is certainly rough for U.S. Postal Service (USPS) workers who have to deal with delivering mail in the sweltering heat. But it can also cause problems for customers, as they may face potential service disruptions. Already this summer, the USPS has halted deliveries and closed post offices across the country in observance of both Juneteenth and the Fourth of July. Severe storms and flash flooding have also caused closures at dozens of facilities this month as well. But now, the USPS is suspending services in even more states. Read on to find out more about why the agency just closed three post offices.
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The Postal Service has over 31,100 post offices spread across the U.S. To keep customers informed about the specific facilities in their area, the agency issues local news releases throughout all 50 states. These will often notify customers about service disruptions in certain parts of the country, so they can find out if their mail is being delivered or if their local post office is open.
But according to several of these local news releases, the USPS has recently suspended services at three separate facilities in two states: Indiana and Ohio.
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The USPS sent out a new local release in Indiana on July 19 to warn customers that the agency has suspended services at one facility in Porter County. According to the release, the Wheeler Post Office in Wheeler, Indiana, is now closed temporarily “for building repairs.”
When Best Life reached out to the USPS, spokesperson Desai Abdul-Razzaaq said that plumbing issues in the building have prompted the need for repairs, adding that “no timetable has been established for the resumption of retail services.”
As of July 19, the Postal Service said that Wheeler customers can access their P.O. Box mail and utilize retail services at the Hobart Post Office. The two facilities are located about five miles apart from each other.
RELATED: See a Sticker on Your Mailbox? Don’t Touch It, USPS Says .
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Certain customers in Ohio are also being affected by postal disruptions right now. The USPS issued two separate local releases for the state on July 7 to alert residents about the closure of facilities in the towns of Prospect and Commercial Point . According to the agency, operations are being suspended at both the Prospect Post Office and Commercial Point Post Office because of lease issues.
“The Postal Service lease for this location has expired,” the USPS stated in both releases, adding that there is currently no information on a new location for either facility.
As of July 15, Prospect customers can access retail services and package pickup at the Richwood Post Office which is located 6.2 miles from the Prospect Post Office. But Commercial Point customers will have to wait until July 22 to access operations at their alternate location—which is the Orient Post Office, located 6.8 miles away from the Commercial Point Post Office.
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Best Life has reached out to the USPS to find out if the agency is searching for somewhere to relocate the two Ohio facilities, and we will update this story with their response.
But based on past instances, this doesn’t always happen. For example, customers in Bolinas, California, have been without a local post office since March, after the Bolinas Post Office was unable to secure a new lease agreement for its previous building, according to an online petition .
Steve Hutkins , a retired English professor and founder of the Save the Post Office website, said that the most common reasons for post office suspensions are lease-related—whether it be that the lease was terminated or not renewed either by the lessor or by the Postal Service itself.
“In any case, when a lease issue causes a suspension, it’s rare for the post office to reopen,” Hutkins wrote in a May 5 post on his website. “Of the 375 suspensions known to have been caused by a lease issue, only 31 have reopened.”
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.
