JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — As people across the country deal with delayed deliveries from the US Postal Service, one Jeffersonville subdivision has residents just wanting to own a mailbox.
Lines of homes make up Ellingsworth Commons, but those homes are missing mailboxes.
"To not have a mailbox, I felt like that was almost an American right,” said Kristina English, who moved to the subdivision in March. “I thought I was supposed to have mail delivery. So to find out I did not get that, it was very surprising."
And now during a pandemic, it's a concern for safety, as English says her son is at high risk for COVID-19.
"I didn't want to put him at risk,” she said. “I was doing the things to protect myself to protect my clients. Trying to be very cautious of my exposure but yet I was forced at least twice a week to go to the post office to get my mail without any other choices."
WHAS11 contacted the subdivision builder, Jeff Corbett, for context. Corbett said he’s more than willing to put individual mailboxes at homes in the subdivision, but is waiting for approval from USPS.
"The Jeffersonville Post Office will deliver mail to Ellingsworth Commons as soon as mail receptacles are installed for residents use," USPS said.
When asked what mail receptacles were required, USPS said new delivery is required to have "centralized box units."
"The cluster boxes would help,” said English. “It would keep me from having to go an expose my family on a daily basis to get mail, but I also understand the risk and you know there's exposure to theft and the builders that don't want to have to maintain that after they're gone."
For now, neighbors like English are feeling a bit stuck as they struggle with misplaced mail and lost packages, and try to figure out if there will be a solution.
"It's very frustrating,” she said. "We have all been talking on the HOA page about different options."
In response to growing complaints that people are receiving packages late, or not at all, USPS pointed to its financial instability.
"The Postal Service is in a financially unsustainable position, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume, and a broken business model," USPS said in a statement. "We are currently unable to balance our costs with available funding sources to fulfill both our universal service mission and other legal obligations."
USPS said only legislation from Congress would help address the situation.
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