Postal Service puts brakes on mailbox removal until after election

The U.S. Postal Service says that disappearing mailboxes in Columbus are all part of routine, ongoing efficiency measures, but it nonetheless will stop the practice of removing them for the next 90 days.

That lapse would mean that no more mailboxes should disappear in Franklin County until after the Nov. 3 election, now just 78 days away.

“The Postal Service reviews collection box density every year on a routine basis to identify redundant/seldom used collection boxes as First-Class Mail volume continues to decline,” Naddia Dhalai, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service operations in Ohio, said in an email Monday.

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Dhalai said boxes are identified for potential removal based on usage and customers get an opportunity to comment before any box is taken away. But “given the recent customer concerns the Postal Service will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days while we evaluate our customers' concerns,” Dhalai said.

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Dhalai declined to answer questions from The Dispatch specifically on how many mailboxes have been removed from Franklin County since Jan. 1, and how many letter sorting machines have been shut down.

In response to those two questions, Dhalai emailed only: “Thank you for your interest in the Postal Service,” and linked to a written statement by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued three weeks ago.

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That statement generally refers to the Postal Service’s ongoing financial woes and belt-tightening efforts, but offers no information specific to Franklin County.

Local residents have posted anecdotal information on social media sites about disappearing mailboxes in their neighborhoods, including many Downtown, but The Dispatch has been unable to quantify the effort.

DeJoy’s cutbacks have generated headlines as they coincide with a COVID-19 epidemic that is expected to lead many more Ohio residents to vote by mail in the upcoming election than in past years.

DeJoy, a former CEO of a logistics firm and a major fund raiser for President Donald Trump, is slated to testify before a U.S. House committee next week into how his changes could potentially disrupt mail-in voting.

bbush@dispatch.com

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