{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2024/05/22/press-releases-id-e9ad34cd-5862-4f62-b2be-9b6860920b23/", "Bennet, Hickenlooper, Neguse Call on USPS to Eliminate Fees for Eligible Steamboat Springs Residents to Access Their Mail", "2024-05-22", "2024", "2024-05", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "Michael F. Bennet", "B001267", "www.bennet.senate.gov", "bennet", "https://www.bennet.senate.gov/news/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper alongside U.S. Representative Joe Neguse urged U.S. Postal Service (USPS) leaders to eliminate P.O. box fees for eligible Coloradans. A substantial number of Steamboat Springs residents currently pay rental fees for P.O. boxes despite qualifying for fee waivers since their physical addresses are not eligible for home delivery.\n\n\u201cMany Steamboat Springs residents pay over one hundred dollars annually to receive mail in their P.O. boxes, even though USPS does not deliver mail or parcels to the residents\u2019 homes. Meanwhile, other Steamboat Springs residents and those living outside of town receive home delivery at no charge,\u201d wrote Bennet, Hickenlooper, and Neguse.\n\n\u201cIn November 2023, after nearly a year of internal study and deliberation, USPS announced that eligible residents who previously paid for P.O. Boxes would no longer be charged a fee, and USPS would provide refunds for up to 24 months of previously paid fees to those residents,\u201d continued the lawmakers. \u201cUnfortunately, nearly six months later, eligible residents still report paying P.O. Box fees, and have not been provided with an estimated date by which they can expect an update or a refund.\u201d\n\nBennet and Hickenlooper have consistently pushed USPS to improve mail service for Colorado\u2019s mountain communities. In March, Bennet joined 20 Senate colleagues urging USPS to stop any changes that could result in job losses and further degrade mail delivery performance for Colorado and 34 other states. In April, Bennet and Hickenlooper again pushed back on USPS\u2019 proposal. Earlier this month, USPS announced it would temporarily pause these network changes and therefore, USPS will not be moving mail processing operations from the Grand Junction Mail Processing Facility this year following the senators\u2019 calls.\n\nThe text of the letter is available HERE and below.\n\nDear Dr. Colin and Mr. Smith,\n\nWe write to urge the United States Postal Service (USPS), Colorado-Wyoming District Office to expedite the process determining eligibility for residents in the City of Steamboat Springs, Colorado who do not receive USPS home delivery to receive a post office box (P.O. Box) at no charge. We also request USPS issue refunds to eligible residents and provide an update to our offices on your progress in a timely manner.\n\nMany Steamboat Springs residents pay over one hundred dollars annually to receive mail in their P.O. boxes, even though USPS does not deliver mail or parcels to the residents\u2019 homes. Meanwhile, other Steamboat Springs residents and those living outside of town receive home delivery at no charge. In November 2023, after nearly a year of internal study and deliberation, USPS announced that eligible residents who previously paid for P.O. Boxes would no longer be charged a fee, and USPS would provide refunds for up to 24 months of previously paid fees to those residents. Unfortunately, nearly six months later, eligible residents still report paying P.O. Box fees, and have not been provided with an estimated date by which they can expect an update or a refund.\n\nWe applaud USPS employees\u2019 hard work and dedication to delivering mail and parcels to local residents, while implementing substantial changes to the post office\u2019s systems. We recognize local residents must complete and return Postal Service Form (PS) 1093 for USPS to determine eligibility, which the USPS is working to process. We also understand USPS is considering new delivery routes for Steamboat Springs, which requires a requisite level of planning before implementation. Nevertheless, eligible local residents, many of whom have already submitted a completed PS Form 1093, are rightfully growing increasingly frustrated that USPS has not yet issued an update on these efforts and continues to charge them for P.O. box rentals.\n\nThank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to hearing from the Colorado-Wyoming District Office with an update on the timeline for the completion of these initiatives, and request that the USPS implement these changes as soon as practical.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:12:30Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2024/05/22/press-releases-id-e9ad34cd-5862-4f62-b2be-9b6860920b23/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8736320305615664, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}