Politics & Government

The Case of the Disappearing Mailboxes

Residents have slowly noticed the disappearance of area street mailboxes. The United States Postal Service is removing them due to changing demands.

The once ubiquitous blue United States Postal Service (USPS) mailboxes are becoming more of a rarity on D.C. street corners. Neighbors occasionally post to listservs bemoaning the loss of a local street mailbox. To date 194 blue collection boxes have been removed from District streets.

Though USPS did not provide information on where these boxes have been removed, Sharon Tennison, a spokesperson for USPS, said the 20007 ZIP Code has lost 12 regular collection boxes and one Express collection box. That same area once had a total of 109 boxes and now has 86 street mailboxes remaining.

Tennison did not answer Patch's question about the process by which mailboxes are selected for elimination.

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"It is critical that we adjust our workforce to match America's changing communication trends as mail volume declines," said Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe on March 24, 2011 in a Postal News release.

The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in 2010 and is projecting a $6.4 billion deficit in 2011.

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