USPS Stops Street Delivery for Rebuilt Lahaina Homes — SkimNews
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- USPS told residents that fire-affected dwellings rebuilt in Lahaina would no longer receive street delivery because reconstruction is being treated as “new development” under postal policy.
- Lahaina had only about 25% of its homes rebuilt three years after the fire; the main post office is more than two miles away, has limited hours, and charges $250 annually for the smallest PO boxes.
- Calvin Cox moved back in February, filed a complaint with USPS headquarters in July, and later received the email explaining that his neighborhood would be treated as new development.
- Gerald Clark said his mail stopped after six weeks of delivery, causing him to miss a DMV notice and register his car late.
- Kesa Ferguson said the postmaster told her, “Your address has been eliminated,” after she nearly missed prescriptions, tax forms, her Social Security card and DMV paperwork for her son.
- Jill Tokuda called USPS’s decision “absolutely unacceptable” and said her staff was working with USPS Hawaii leadership to restore home delivery.
- Richard Bissen urged the postmaster general to make restoring Lahaina mail delivery a priority, arguing that families should not lose an essential service after their homes were destroyed.
Why it matters: Rebuilding families who lost their homes now must travel more than two miles to a limited-hours post office, where the smallest PO boxes cost $250 annually. Missed DMV notices, insurance policies, prescriptions and voting ballots show the service loss is already disrupting essential daily tasks.
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