USPS responds to removal of blue steel mailboxes

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - When blue-steel mail collection boxes consistently receive small amounts of correspondence over the course of months, the United States Postal Service will contemplate their removal, especially if the cost of fuel and work-hours linked to that mailbox is not worth the effort.

For decades, USPS has considered the installation and removal of these boxes based on volume, so boxes that don’t receive a ton of mail are removed and installed in areas of growing populations.

“Removing the box is simply good business sense, in that respect,” said USPS. “It is important to note that anyone with a residential or business mailbox can use it as a vehicle to send outgoing mail.”

Currently, there are nearly 142,000 blue-steel collection boxes nationwide.

But decisions to remove these boxes are also made on a case-by-case basis, so if that box is the ONLY means for sending correspondence in a neighborhood, complex or business center- it will probably be kept.

“In the past few years, greater emphasis has been placed on stabilizing the number of collection boxes in use and relocating low-use boxes to high traffic areas such as shopping centers, business parks, grocery stores, etc. for increased customer convenience.”

USPS says this is a normal operational procedure to make sure the majority of blue-steel mailboxes are placed in areas with high mail-traffic.

“Additionally, we still have carriers come to every single home six days a week and they collect any outgoing mail that is available,” said USPS.

Copyright 2020 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.