RAINIER, About a third of Rainier gets no mail at home. Oregon’s congressional delegation wants the Postal Service to explain why.
In an Oct. 13 letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote that “roughly a third of the town is not included in the mail route and must use a PO Box.” When a package or letter is addressed to one of those homes instead of the box, they wrote, the post office does not hold it. It goes back to the sender.
“In a world where people often shop online, many online retailers don’t offer a format for a PO Box address, resulting in orders never reaching their intended addresses,” the letter says. The three called it “concerning that not every residence is eligible for home delivery in Rainier, considering the small size of the town and well-maintained streets.” Rainier had 1,911 residents at the 2020 census, a figure the city posts on its website.
The delegation asked the Postal Service to answer in writing within 14 days of receiving the letter, a window that closes this week. Among its questions: “Why are some residents of Rainier, who live within city limits, unable to receive mail at home?” It also asked whether understaffed post offices are behind the problems and, if so, what the agency is doing about it.
The Tribune emailed the Postal Service’s media contact for Oregon on Tuesday, asking whether the agency has answered the letter and why parts of Rainier are not on a delivery route. The agency had not responded by the time this story was published. This story will be updated if it does.
Who Decides Where the Mail Goes
The Postal Service, not the customer, decides how an address gets its mail. Its Postal Operations Manual says the agency sets the “mode of delivery” for each location “in its sole discretion, on a case-by-case basis,” and that a new or extended address “must request and receive approval of the delivery location and mode of delivery” from local postal officials before any mail is delivered. The manual calls centralized delivery, such as a bank of cluster boxes, “the preferred mode of delivery,” and lists post office box service as one alternative when curbside boxes are not an option.
The manual also sets out a hardship process. A customer who cannot get to the mail because of a physical condition can ask the local postmaster for a change, and “a request should not be denied solely because of increased operational costs.” If the postmaster says no, the district manager makes the final call.
Under the agency’s Domestic Mail Manual, a customer whose address “constitutes a potential carrier delivery point” but gets no carrier delivery “may qualify for Group E (free) PO Box service,” one free box per address, in the smallest size that fits the customer’s daily mail. Whether Rainier’s no-delivery addresses are getting that free box is one of the things the delegation’s letter does not say.
What It Means for Ballots
Oregon voter registrations carry a residence address and, when it is different, a mailing address, and state law requires the county clerk to keep both current (ORS 247.292). A Rainier voter with a PO box on file gets the ballot at the box. Tuesday, Oct. 27, is the last day the Oregon Secretary of State recommends mailing a ballot back; after that, the state says to use a drop box. Rainier’s is at City Hall, 106 W. B St.
A Regional Complaint
Rainier is the only Columbia County town named in the letter, which says “similar issues of concern also exist in Columbia County” without listing others. Most of the letter is about Clatsop County, where the three wrote that Astoria’s city and county governments and several downtown businesses “have not been receiving mail regularly, and some are not receiving mail at all,” even though the post office is minutes from city hall. Payments mailed to the city have arrived late or not at all, they wrote.
The Astoria problems were public before the letter. On Oct. 5, OPB reported that downtown businesses and City Hall had gone weeks with spotty mail and missing packages, that a downtown stretch of Duane and Exchange streets had no assigned carrier, and that the Astoria postmaster had not answered repeated requests for comment. In Warrenton, the letter says, the Postal Service has spent years looking for a new post office site. In Gearhart, about half the residents drive to Seaside for their mail.
As of Oct. 23, the Postal Service had not responded publicly to the letter, according to KPTV, which said it had asked the agency for comment.
What They Asked For
- A written response within 14 days.
- A meeting between the Postal Service and local elected officials in Clatsop and Columbia counties.
- A public information session within 60 days “for residents to discuss the agency’s plans to address these issues.”
“Timely, reliable mail delivery is essential infrastructure,” the letter says. “Businesses, residents, and local governments rely on USPS for commerce, communication, medications, and more.” The offices announced the letter in a press release on Oct. 16.
The Rainier post office is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays, according to the Postal Service.