'Insult to injury': Lahaina fire survivors face mail delivery challenges
By Catherine Cluett Pactol
September 4, 2026 at 1:23 PM HST
For Lahaina resident Donna Butterfield, her mailbox was one of the only things to survive the 2023 wildfire at her home on Luakini Street. She and her partner waited more than a year just to get their permits to rebuild in Lahaina's historic district. They finally moved back in earlier this year, and put fresh numbers on their old mailbox. But they still haven’t received mail there.
“We were just so happy to get back, and then now we're like, ‘OK, we still can't relax because now we have to figure this mail thing out,’” she said.
Butterfield checked with the post office about when their home mail delivery would start again.
“That's when we found out that all the homes that are rebuilt, that had burned down, are being considered a new development. And all new developments get cluster mailboxes, even though we have no sidewalks and nowhere to put them,” she said. “It doesn't make sense.”
Cluster mailboxes are a grouping of locked mail compartments in a centralized location that serve a neighborhood.
Butterfield said a postal employee told her it could be six months or more to get those cluster mailboxes.
But according to Maui County, they might not be permitted at all.
“These neighborhoods were not designed with predetermined locations for cluster mailboxes, dedicated easements, common areas or other infrastructure necessary to accommodate centralized mail delivery,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen wrote in a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General, requesting home delivery be restored to Lahaina. “In many locations, there is no appropriate County property, easement, right-of-way or commonly owned parcel where centralized mailboxes can simply be installed. Requiring them after reconstruction could therefore create new questions involving land ownership, access, maintenance, accessibility and infrastructure that did not exist before the fire.”
Most homes in Lahaina have been cleared of debris from the fires two years ago. Many of the lots sit empty, awaiting the construction of a new home. (Aug 4, 2025) (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda called the situation “a slap in the face.”
“This is not a new subdivision,” she told HPR. “This is literally restoring and rebuilding a community devastated by fire, and the very last thing we should be doing is taking away services that they once had. We should be greeting them with restored and renewed services, like home delivery.”
County Councilmember Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, said residents have lost important documents because of the change of service.
“I've had people that went through everything they went through, rebuilt their home, and now have missed out on family parties where they got a mail invitation, mortgage documents, other important information, and it had been sent back because they won't deliver to people's houses,” Paltin said.
She said the removal of home delivery has been especially hard on kūpuna.
“Some of them, their whole day centered around going out to their mailbox and collecting their mail,” Paltin said.
Bissen echoed the concern for those with limited mobility or disabilities, as well as those receiving medications through the postal service, being required to travel farther to pick up their mail.
Butterfield said mail carriers are still driving the routes.
Donna Butterfield and her partner's home in Lahaina before the 2023 wildfire, left, and afterwards, right, taken in November 2023, when they were allowed to re-enter their property. (1760x990, AR: 1.7777777777777777)
“What's so crazy, too, about this is they're still delivering mail to the few houses that didn't burn,” she said. “So the mail carriers are actually driving by all the brand new homes that just finished rebuilding, to deliver the mail to the ones that didn't burn.”
A USPS spokesperson told HPR that delivery for rebuilt homes is “under review,” and could not provide more info on the process.
Butterfield has started a petition to reinstate home delivery. She said she has gathered about 130 signatures from neighbors and is extending the outreach online as well.
But now, Lahaina residents are getting more bad news in the mail.
“You add on top of this the insult to injury where you tell them that the Downtown Post Office destroyed in the fire would not be coming back and they'd have to travel even farther to a much more crowded post office to get parcels and do their mail services,” Tokuda explained.
Most Lahaina residents who lost their homes in the fire have been getting their mail at the Lahaina Main Post Office after the downtown location near Front Street burned, where they were transferred automatically in August 2023. Though it's geographically less than two miles away, many feel the main location is understaffed and over capacity.
The USPS told HPR the Downtown Lahaina Post Office had about 1,100 post office boxes. They say “a viable new location downtown could not be secured.”
Tokuda questioned that.
“I don't believe they've even tried,” she said. “The fact that they're saying they're embarking on this feasibility study to close the post office because they couldn't find other sites — well, Lahaina's in the rebuild space. Of course you're not going to have buildings ready to go right now. The question is, did you really, in good faith, try to seek out an alternative location? And if you have exhausted all your options, what are you going to be doing to expand the Lahaina main site so that it can actually have the capacity to meet the needs of a large and growing community?”
Less than a week in advance, the postal service notified affected Lahaina customers they were holding a 30-minute Zoom meeting last week for community input on the proposed permanent closure. Many frustrated residents said they couldn’t attend because it was during the workday. Those who did join the meeting say they felt their concerns were dismissed.
The USPS states customers have until Sept. 26 to submit input, through forms only available at the Lahaina Main Post Office.
Tokuda is asking U.S. Postal Service leaders to meet with her, and urges residents to submit testimony.
“It's important that USPS understands the gravity of the situation, how angry the community feels, how disrespectful this action is,” she said.
Mayor Bissen also opposes the proposed closure, calling on the postal service to return for adequate community input.
“Before making a permanent decision, USPS should provide meaningful, in-person engagement in Lahaina so residents, businesses and community leaders have an opportunity to understand the proposal and provide input,” reads Bissen’s letter to the U.S. Postmaster General.
The remains of various shops that once stood on Front Street three years after the Lahaina wildfires. (July 10, 2026) (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The postal service said it will complete a feasibility study on potential closure.
Permanent closure is also being considered for the Pu’unene Post Office, where "services were suspended due to the termination of the lease by the lessor in September 2024," according to a USPS statement to HPR. Former customers of that office have been transferred to the Kahului Main Office and were notified of a virtual community meeting about the proposed closure to be held on Sept. 10 via Zoom.
“It’s important to note that these decisions have not been finalized,” USPS said in a statement to HPR. “Affected customers can still submit feedback with the survey they received in the mail or by picking up a questionnaire at the Main Lahaina (for Downtown Lahaina) or Kahului Post Offices (for Pu’unene). After the questionnaire and virtual community meeting input is collected, a final proposal will be posted at those offices with instructions on how customers can provide further comment. All comments received will be considered prior to making a final determination on each office.”
The USPS could not provide a target date for when the feasibility studies will be completed.
“The study will be available to the public at the Lahaina Main Post Office for a period of additional comment before the final determination is made,” the postal service said.
“We were just so happy to get back, and then now we're like, ‘OK, we still can't relax because now we have to figure this mail thing out,’” she said.
Butterfield checked with the post office about when their home mail delivery would start again.
“That's when we found out that all the homes that are rebuilt, that had burned down, are being considered a new development. And all new developments get cluster mailboxes, even though we have no sidewalks and nowhere to put them,” she said. “It doesn't make sense.”
Cluster mailboxes are a grouping of locked mail compartments in a centralized location that serve a neighborhood.
Butterfield said a postal employee told her it could be six months or more to get those cluster mailboxes.
But according to Maui County, they might not be permitted at all.
“These neighborhoods were not designed with predetermined locations for cluster mailboxes, dedicated easements, common areas or other infrastructure necessary to accommodate centralized mail delivery,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen wrote in a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General, requesting home delivery be restored to Lahaina. “In many locations, there is no appropriate County property, easement, right-of-way or commonly owned parcel where centralized mailboxes can simply be installed. Requiring them after reconstruction could therefore create new questions involving land ownership, access, maintenance, accessibility and infrastructure that did not exist before the fire.”
Most homes in Lahaina have been cleared of debris from the fires two years ago. Many of the lots sit empty, awaiting the construction of a new home. (Aug 4, 2025) (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda called the situation “a slap in the face.”
“This is not a new subdivision,” she told HPR. “This is literally restoring and rebuilding a community devastated by fire, and the very last thing we should be doing is taking away services that they once had. We should be greeting them with restored and renewed services, like home delivery.”
County Councilmember Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, said residents have lost important documents because of the change of service.
“I've had people that went through everything they went through, rebuilt their home, and now have missed out on family parties where they got a mail invitation, mortgage documents, other important information, and it had been sent back because they won't deliver to people's houses,” Paltin said.
She said the removal of home delivery has been especially hard on kūpuna.
“Some of them, their whole day centered around going out to their mailbox and collecting their mail,” Paltin said.
Bissen echoed the concern for those with limited mobility or disabilities, as well as those receiving medications through the postal service, being required to travel farther to pick up their mail.
Butterfield said mail carriers are still driving the routes.
Donna Butterfield and her partner's home in Lahaina before the 2023 wildfire, left, and afterwards, right, taken in November 2023, when they were allowed to re-enter their property. (1760x990, AR: 1.7777777777777777)
“What's so crazy, too, about this is they're still delivering mail to the few houses that didn't burn,” she said. “So the mail carriers are actually driving by all the brand new homes that just finished rebuilding, to deliver the mail to the ones that didn't burn.”
A USPS spokesperson told HPR that delivery for rebuilt homes is “under review,” and could not provide more info on the process.
Butterfield has started a petition to reinstate home delivery. She said she has gathered about 130 signatures from neighbors and is extending the outreach online as well.
But now, Lahaina residents are getting more bad news in the mail.
“You add on top of this the insult to injury where you tell them that the Downtown Post Office destroyed in the fire would not be coming back and they'd have to travel even farther to a much more crowded post office to get parcels and do their mail services,” Tokuda explained.
Most Lahaina residents who lost their homes in the fire have been getting their mail at the Lahaina Main Post Office after the downtown location near Front Street burned, where they were transferred automatically in August 2023. Though it's geographically less than two miles away, many feel the main location is understaffed and over capacity.
The USPS told HPR the Downtown Lahaina Post Office had about 1,100 post office boxes. They say “a viable new location downtown could not be secured.”
Tokuda questioned that.
“I don't believe they've even tried,” she said. “The fact that they're saying they're embarking on this feasibility study to close the post office because they couldn't find other sites — well, Lahaina's in the rebuild space. Of course you're not going to have buildings ready to go right now. The question is, did you really, in good faith, try to seek out an alternative location? And if you have exhausted all your options, what are you going to be doing to expand the Lahaina main site so that it can actually have the capacity to meet the needs of a large and growing community?”
Less than a week in advance, the postal service notified affected Lahaina customers they were holding a 30-minute Zoom meeting last week for community input on the proposed permanent closure. Many frustrated residents said they couldn’t attend because it was during the workday. Those who did join the meeting say they felt their concerns were dismissed.
The USPS states customers have until Sept. 26 to submit input, through forms only available at the Lahaina Main Post Office.
Tokuda is asking U.S. Postal Service leaders to meet with her, and urges residents to submit testimony.
“It's important that USPS understands the gravity of the situation, how angry the community feels, how disrespectful this action is,” she said.
Mayor Bissen also opposes the proposed closure, calling on the postal service to return for adequate community input.
“Before making a permanent decision, USPS should provide meaningful, in-person engagement in Lahaina so residents, businesses and community leaders have an opportunity to understand the proposal and provide input,” reads Bissen’s letter to the U.S. Postmaster General.
The remains of various shops that once stood on Front Street three years after the Lahaina wildfires. (July 10, 2026) (6000x4000, AR: 1.5)
The postal service said it will complete a feasibility study on potential closure.
Permanent closure is also being considered for the Pu’unene Post Office, where "services were suspended due to the termination of the lease by the lessor in September 2024," according to a USPS statement to HPR. Former customers of that office have been transferred to the Kahului Main Office and were notified of a virtual community meeting about the proposed closure to be held on Sept. 10 via Zoom.
“It’s important to note that these decisions have not been finalized,” USPS said in a statement to HPR. “Affected customers can still submit feedback with the survey they received in the mail or by picking up a questionnaire at the Main Lahaina (for Downtown Lahaina) or Kahului Post Offices (for Pu’unene). After the questionnaire and virtual community meeting input is collected, a final proposal will be posted at those offices with instructions on how customers can provide further comment. All comments received will be considered prior to making a final determination on each office.”
The USPS could not provide a target date for when the feasibility studies will be completed.
“The study will be available to the public at the Lahaina Main Post Office for a period of additional comment before the final determination is made,” the postal service said.