The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is a vital agency for people across the country, with many of us relying on mail services to receive essential items like medications and paychecks. But the USPS is not always able to keep up with its regular operations. Over the past year, the agency has temporarily closed post offices and suspended delivery services in several places for different reasons, including hazardous weather conditions and safety concerns. Now, the USPS says some customers will be without regular service for half of the year. Read on to find out where the agency has suspended services "until late summer."
READ THIS NEXT: USPS Is Making Even More Changes to Your Mail, Starting Jan. 22.
The Postal Service temporarily closed over 200 facilities last fall.
ShutterstockThe USPS can and will shutter different facilities when the situation calls for it.
We saw this in Sept. 2022, when the agency pulled the plug on more than 200 post offices during Hurricane Ian. The Postal Service started temporarily suspending mail operations on Sept. 27, a day before the storm first made landfall in the U.S. as a Category 4 hurricane. Closed facilities were spread throughout three different states impacted by Hurricane Ian: Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia.
"The Postal Service appreciates its customers and their understanding as we temporarily adjust operations due to inclement weather," the agency said at the time. "We will continue to monitor tropical weather conditions and will restore service when it is safe to do so."
As some residents have learned, however, certain temporary closures are not so temporary.
Several of these post offices have not reopened yet.
iStockMost of the post offices that were temporarily closed due to Hurricane Ian were not shuttered for long and reopened quickly after the storm hit. But that's not the case for all of them.
In Florida, the Postal Service initially shut down the Auburndale Post Office, Balm Post Office, Downtown Fort Myers Station, Downtown Naples Station, Everglades City Post Office, Fort Myers Beach Post Office, Nocatee Post Office, Pineland Post Office, and the Sanibel Main Post Office on Sept. 27. These nine facilities were just a few of those affected at the time, but they're all still closed.
On Dec. 9, the USPS updated its Service Alerts page to notify customers that these post offices have not reopened yet. "Due to Hurricane Ian, operations in the following facilities remain temporarily suspended until further notice," the agency said in its alert.
In a separate news release posted the same day, the Postal Service announced that it was resuming operations at the Captiva Post Office in Florida on Dec. 10, and said it "continues its efforts to restore service as quickly as we can safely do."
At least one post office is expected to be closed "until late summer."
iStockIt's now been more than three months since the Postal Service initially closed post offices for Hurricane Ian, but some restoration efforts have proved trickier than others. After requesting an update from the USPS on the "re-establishment of postal services on the island," the city of Sanibel got a response from the agency that suspensions will likely remain in place for several more months, per The Reporter-Islander.
According to the newspaper, the Postal Service said that the Sanibel Post Office has endured extensive damage to the facility's building and its delivery fleet. "Although we are working diligently to restore mail delivery as soon as possible, the anticipated resumption of delivery operations is not expected to be completed until late summer," USPS officials said.
Currently, Sanibel customers have to go to the Fort Myers Processing and Distribution Center for mail service, local Fox-affiliate WFTX reported. There is a sign on this building that reads, "Sanibel Post Office rebuild is expected to be completed by the end of July 2023," and notes that mail operations will continue at the Fort Myers facility until further notice, according to the news outlet. But the Fort Myers center is roughly an hour-long drive from the Sanibel Post Office.
Temporary suspensions can drag on for a very long time.
ShutterstockMost of the time, Postal Service suspensions are short-lived. But customers in Sanibel are hardly the first to experience long-term disruption.
In South Carolina, the Longs Post Office was destroyed by a fire in June 2021. A year later, residents were still waiting for the facility to reopen. At the time, the USPS told local CBS-affiliate WBTW that it expected to complete repairs and reopen in early 2023.
Residents in Hamilton, Washington, have also been without mail services for over a year, local NBC-affiliate KING 5 recently reported. Back in Nov. 2021, a storm caused the Skagit River to overflow and flood the town of Hamilton, damaging the post office.
"Floodwaters rendered the old post office building uninhabitable and we've been unable to secure alternate quarters in the rural town of Hamilton. At this time, there are still assessments being done at the former post office," a USPS spokesperson told KING 5, adding that they hope to find a new permanent location for a post office in 2023.
