READ THIS NEXT: USPS Is Making This Major Delivery Change, Starting Oct. 2. The USPS strives to provide uninterrupted service to Americans across the country, but that’s not always possible. According to the agency, the operations at postal facilities can be impacted by a number of issues, including weather, natural disasters, and special events. But the Postal Service doesn’t keep people in the dark when this happens. Through its website, the USPS releases regular service alerts so that residential customers can find out if mail is being delivered to their neighborhood or if their local post office is open.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The Postal Service just updated its service alert page on Aug. 18 to inform customers of residential service disruptions in one area. According to the agency, the post office in Roscommon, Michigan, has been “temporarily closed due to safety concerns.” The USPS did not elaborate on what these “safety concerns” were, but noted that P.O. box customers will still have access to their mail while “all other operations are relocating” to the post office in Houghton Lake. Two other post offices appear to still be closed in Michigan as well from earlier suspensions this summer: the Luther Post Office is closed due to fire damage and the Mason Post Office is closed due to structural damage. At the beginning go June, local NBC-affiliate WILX reported that the Mason Post Office would start undergoing building repairs. Post Office spokesperson Elizabeth Najduch told the news outlet in June that officials were not sure how long the repairs would take, but it seems the work is not done yet. “No timetable has yet been established for the resumption of retail services,” Najduch said. It’s not just the state of Michigan dealing with post office closures, however. According to the Postal Service’s latest service alerts, residents in a dozen states are experiencing residential service disruptions right now: Michigan, Illinois, California, Texas, Washington, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Dakota, Minnesota, Ohio, Arkansas, and Florida. Beside Michigan, the most recent update from the USPS was in regards to Illinois. On Aug. 11, the agency alerted customers that the post office in Madison, Illinois had been “temporarily closed due to air quality concerns related to local fire.” In the other states, post offices appear to still be closed for issues such as wildfires, flooding, structural damage, and safety concerns. The USPS also updates customers when service has resumed at post offices that had been temporarily closed. But not all facilities open back up. Steve Hutkins, a retired English professor from New York and creator of SavethePostOffice.com, told Spectrum News 1 in 2020 that temporary post office suspensions often lead to permanent closings by the USPS. During the decade between 2007 and 2017, 1,600 post offices were temporarily or permanently closed. “Of the 1,600 completed and pending discontinuances, nearly 1,000—62 percent—involved an emergency suspension,” Hutkins explained at the time. “An annual compliance review suspension list provided information about the cause for the suspension in 534 cases—252 suspensions (47 percent) were caused by a problem renewing the lease; 122 (22 percent) were caused by safety issues; 99 (19 percent) were caused by problems staffing the office; and 64 (12 percent) were caused by damage to the building. The lease issues have been the most contentious. Many communities and post office lessors have felt that the Postal Service deliberately created an issue over renewing the lease simply to justify closing the post office. The staff issues are also problematic since they’re typically within the Postal Service’s control.”
title: “Usps Is Suspending These Services Effective Immediately Best Life” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Carlos Laplant”
READ THIS NEXT: USPS Is Getting Rid of This, Postmaster General Says. People across the U.S. have had their mail service stripped back throughout the year. From April to June, the USPS suspended deliveries in at least three cities over attacks against postal carriers: Santa Monica, California; Greenfield, Indiana; and Des Moines, Iowa. Residents in one Santa Monica neighborhood received notice of a mail suspension back in April due to “assaults and threats of assaults” from one individual against multiple carriers in the area. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods in Greenfield and Des Moines both lost delivery service after USPS workers were attacked by loose dogs. Now, the Postal Service has had to suspend its services in another area entirely for very different concerns. The USPS was forced to suspend its service at several post offices in Northern California this week, eSeller365 reported. According to the e-commerce news outlet, the agency closed post offices in four Siskiyou County cities: Klamath River, Happy Camp, Scott Bar, and Seiad Valley. The closures are the result of the McKinney Fire, a massive wildfire that broke out in the Klamath National Forest near the border of California and Oregon on July 29, per CNN. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. On Aug. 1, the USPS updated its Residential Service Disruptions alert page, notifying residents that two of the post offices have reopened: Happy Camp and Seiad Valley. The Scott Bar and Klamath River locations are still closed due to the McKinney Fire, however. And even in the areas where post offices have reopened, mail delivery is still being impacted due to road closures because of the fire. For residents who are unable to get their mail, the Postal Service is directing them to available mail and retail services at the post office in Yreka, California. “Customers are reminded to bring proper photo identification for mail and package pickups,” the agency said. The Postal Service has long warned customers that hazardous conditions and natural disasters can affect service. But the agency says it “curtails delivery only after careful consideration, and only as a last resort,” in order to keep employees and customers safe. The McKinney Fire is not the first instance of this in recent weeks. On July 26, the USPS released an industry alert notifying customers that it had halted operations at its Processing and Distribution Center in St. Louis, Missouri, due to flooding in the area.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb At least one post office in the city also had to be closed as record-breaking rainfall in the region produced historic and widespread flooding, according to CNN. “Flooding conditions presented some challenges for us, and we are reallocating resources, making every effort to provide delivery, however the safety of our employees is a top priority,” USPS spokesperson Mark Inglett told local Fox-affiliate KTVI .
