Letter: Aspen Post Office doesn’t deliver

When my daughter finished college several years ago, she moved to Aspen to follow her passion for skiing. She’s now in her fourth season, and as a result has missed lots of family holidays. And therein lies the problem.

I thought it was really weird that the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t deliver mail to her home. She got a PO box, which wasn’t convenient, but it works (sometimes) for her. My post office in Mukilteo, Wash., delivers the mail to the PO box owners by 10:30 a.m., Monday through Saturday. But apparently the same isn’t true for the Aspen post office. Packages sent in plenty of time to be distributed before Christmas sat in the post office for days. I know, I saw the tracking information. It took three days from Washington State to Aspen, and then the packages sat in the post office for another eight days!

I don’t know how the post office gets away with this? This is typical of anything I send to Aspen. I talked with one of the supervisors and he told me there are 8,000 post office boxes and only 400 package lockers. If you aren’t lucky enough to get your package put into a locker then you need to come to the post office during business hours and bring your pink slip to the counter. My daughter was at the post office on Dec. 24, and even though her packages had been “delivered” to the post office they weren’t delivered to her.

My post office called the Aspen post office and they located the Christmas packages (on Dec. 28). When I called the Aspen post office to ask why this continues to happen, I was given a lot of excuses:

Too many packages to distribute. Not enough people. Was hung up on because the postal worker didn’t want to talk with me. There is snow so they can’t deliver mail. Too many people coming and going.

I even complained to the Colorado customer service people in Denver, and they said there is nothing they can do. The Aspen post office receives the package and scans it as received. The problem is inside the post office, waiting to get distributed to the PO boxes.

I don’t know how the people who live in this area put up with this lack of service. There is absolutely no reason that packages need to sit for more than a week just waiting to get delivered once they arrive in Aspen. Also, if there aren’t enough lockers, get more. Do something, Aspen post office. I had one very disappointed daughter since she did not receive any presents for the holiday. And your response on Dec. 29 is that they are there and she can pick them up, but only if she arrives at the post office by 5 p.m. I don’t know how the people of Aspen (and Snowmass) put up with this service, or disservice. I don’t even live there, but have had it with the Aspen post office.

Debbie Heathers-Stiteler

Mukilteo, Wash.