As Lahaina residents have been rebuilding their burned homes, many also installed new mailboxes, hoping their home mail delivery would resume. But the U.S. Postal Service has said it considers the rebuilt neighborhoods as new developments, which would get centralized delivery, rather than their former curbside service.
That policy has received widespread pushback from Lahaina homeowners and lawmakers, who say fire survivors should, at a minimum, have the same services they did before the fire.
Now, the postal service says it may reconsider that policy for Lahaina if certain safety measures are put in place.
The information comes in response to a letter Mayor Richard Bissen wrote last month, requesting the USPS restore delivery.
The USPS cites that challenges to safely accessing mailboxes in Lahaina are not a new issue.
“Prior to August 2023, carriers reported difficulties safely accessing mailboxes from their vehicles, due to excessive street parking and sidewalks that were constructed after curbside mail delivery had been established,” the USPS stated in their letter, dated Oct. 9. “Customers are responsible for keeping the approach to their mailbox clear at all times to facilitate delivery service.”
According to the USPS, curbside mailbox locations need to allow carriers to deliver without leaving their vehicle. And parked cars cannot be blocking the mailboxes.
“Ultimately, the Postal Service will only restart delivery once the location of the mailboxes has been approved by the Postal Service and the street is sufficiently occupied,” the letter states.
County officials are scheduling a meeting with postal service leadership to discuss the issue more.
“For many residents, particularly kūpuna, people with disabilities and individuals with limited mobility, direct home mail delivery is more than a convenience — it provides essential access to medications, financial documents, government correspondence and other important materials,” Bissen said in a press release.
The postal service also says that a proposal to permanently close the Downtown Lahaina post office location instead of rebuilding is not final. According to USPS, they are still reviewing community comments before making a decision, as gathered during a brief virtual meeting held on Aug. 25.
