The Post Office Declares War on Apartment Dwellers – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

For the United States Postal Service (USPS)’s millions of consumers, lower service standards are an unfortunate fact of life. Apartment dwellers are increasingly bearing the brunt of an agency eager to ditch its responsibilities at all costs.

Recently, America’s mail carrier has been sending notices to ordinary apartment buildings, bizarrely claiming that the complexes are “dormitories” and therefore responsible for distributing their own mail. This is not only a profound dereliction of duty but is also bound to increase already-high rental costs by forcing apartment buildings to hire more front-office staff. While the USPS should do everything it can to get back into the black and make it easier to receive mail, leaving consumers out to dry is not the right way to accomplish this. Apartment dwellers deserve a postal system that works for them, too.

Located in Statesboro, Georgia, the Copper Beech apartment and townhouse complex operates similarly to any other apartment/townhouse complex. Residents enjoy private kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms, with a few community amenities such as fitness facilities and a pool. However, the USPS has a different (and distorted) view of this property. After a petty feud over electronically logging packages escalated between an apartment property manager and the local postmaster in late 2023, the postmaster notified Copper Beech that they are, in fact, a dormitory (after considering them an apartment complex for 15 years). As a result, Copper Beech would be in charge of delivering mail from the front office to its residents.

Postal Service Breaches Mandate

The postmaster cited the Postal Operations Manual (POM) to justify the change. There was only one problem: the POM wasn’t publicly available. Copper Beech was forced to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to get the manual, which (in part) defines dormitories as separate units with shared access to “centrally located kitchens, bathrooms, showers, or social or common areas.” (RELATED: US Postal Service Needs Some Competition)

That simply does not describe Copper Beech’s unexceptional multi-bedroom apartment setup. Yet, the postmaster insisted on unfair treatment based on what appears to be a petty argument with staff.

In August 2024, USPS “completely stopped delivering mail and packages to all residents at Copper Beech. Amazon packages were returned; relatives’ care packages weren’t delivered; important tax notices didn’t reach taxpayers. Residents reported to Copper Beech that they weren’t getting jury summonses, critical medications, and other important mail.” This fight is far from over, and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will have the final say after hearing all the facts.

This is far from an isolated incident. In October 2024, Texas CBS affiliate KBTX reported, “The USPS recently reclassified the Vibe on Harvey and Atrium Apartments [in College Station, Texas] as ‘apartment-type mailboxes for dormitories or residence halls,’ a move that has residents and property managers questioning its accuracy and fairness.” The reclassification impacted several College Station-area complexes, despite the residences catering mainly to local families and having setups indistinguishable from run-of-the-mill apartment buildings.

If complexes are unable to accept responsibility for sorting the mail, residents are instructed by the USPS to pick up their mail at the local post office. But the local post office then told residents that this wouldn’t be possible, and residents would need to purchase their own P.O. boxes.

Elisa Ycaguirre, who is the assistant manager at the Vibe and the Atrium apartments, explained, “Most of our residents get all of their medications through the mail, especially our elderly residents. They live paycheck to paycheck, and they don’t have vehicles. So, all of their medicines, all of their important documents, get mailed to them. Because of this, now they have to find a way to go to the post office and pick up their mail, their medicine [after procuring a P.O. box].”

To say this is outrageous is an understatement. While the USPS may not like delivering to individual apartment units, it has a legal mandate to get mail into consumers’ hands from sea to shining sea — and all the nooks and crannies in between. Picking and choosing where it delivers based on arbitrary criteria is a recipe for disaster and a disturbing abuse of federal power.

Providing more roadblocks to delivering First-Class mail will mean less volume and greater postal financial losses. America’s mail carrier can and must do better.

READ MORE from Ross Marchand:

Postal Service-run Census Would be a Costly Mistake

Young Federal Government Workers Should Accept Trump’s Buyout

US Postal Service Needs Some Competition

Ross Marchand is a senior fellow for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.