The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) basically operates around the clock, with some exceptions, of course.
Postal customers had to plan around post offices being closed nationwide for Labor Day on September 4, and the next couple months have more federal holidays to prepare for.
But depending on where you live, these may not be the only times your local operations are disrupted in the coming weeks.
The Postal Service can close post offices and halt deliveries for a number of reasons, which some customers in Ohio and Texas are currently finding out.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is no stranger to change, but these days, it feels like the agency is always switching things up.
There are a few reasons for that, of course. For one thing, the USPS is in the midst of a major 10-year operational overhaul under its Delivering for America (DFA) plan, which began in 2021 and has included a number of changes designed to help get the agency out of its financial hole.
Then there are other necessary updates outside of the DFA. Lately, stopping the spike in mail theft has been a priority for the USPS, and, of course, there’s also the need to give customers new mailing options to keep them loyal.
With all that in mind, read on for a look at some of the newest USPS changes.
If you’ve noticed your community’s blue collection mailboxes looking a bit different, you’re not alone.
A woman from Billings, Montana, recently reached out to her local news station KULR to ask about a change in some of the post office drop boxes in her town.
Resident Barb Tuell said the new mailboxes require people to get out of their car to put their mail inside, when they were previously able to drive through and drop things off with the old ones.
The team at KULR also found that the gap is much smaller than before, limiting the drop box to letters and envelopes only.
These new collection boxes have been spotted in other cities recently as well.
Customers from the Anderson Township Post Office in Ohio told local CBS-affiliate WKRC about the change in post office collection boxes in May, noting that they are not as easy and convenient to use as the old ones.
Despite frustrations from customers, the USPS is well aware that its new drop boxes may be harder to use. But that’s because they’ve been designed to make it harder for criminals to steal mail from inside.
In a May 12 press release, the USPS announced that it would be cracking down on mail theft by rolling out expanded crime prevention measures, including the installation of 12,000 “high security” blue collection boxes nationwide.
Kim Frum, a strategic communications specialist with the Postal Service, told KULR that the new post office drop boxes spotted in Billings are part of the agency’s efforts to protect its collection boxes.
“These boxes are being deployed across the country through the next fiscal year,” Frum explained to the news outlet. “The post office will continue to evaluate additional existing blue collection boxes with these enhanced boxes.”
The agency has also made it clear that it has no plans to pull back when it comes to changing mailboxes across the U.S.
“Recognizing these ongoing safety threats, we have been—and will continue to—implement an engaged, robust nationwide initiative to harden blue collection boxes,” a Postal Service spokesperson told WKRC.
