CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Imagine not getting mail delivered to you for months. That's the reality for residents of one neighborhood in the area of Ayers Street and Holly Road after their community mailboxes were vandalized.
It's been eight months since the mailboxes were damaged but the vandalism was just the beginning of their problems. Things got more complicated when they tried to get help from the local post office.
"Well first they told us they were working on it and that they were going to come up with a plan to replace it," Deer Creek resident Janie Escareno said. "Then they said that we're responsible for it so we were going to have to pay for it, which I said "okay then give everybody an amount. Then they said call and email the supervisor. We emailed the supervisor but the emails didn't go through. They came back unforwardable."
Janie and others now have to make daily trips to the nearest post office to pick up their mail, but this is causing multiple inconveniences.
"We have several disabled in the neighborhood, including myself. It's an inconvenience because you have to drive to go get your mail every day or every few days and some people just can't do it," Escareno said. "Also people work all day. The post office closes at five so they have to wait until Saturday. The post office is only open until one on Saturdays, so they have to wait in a long line and take time out of their day."
Neighbors tried coming up with their own plan for a solution for the damaged mailbox units.
"We've asked if we can have mailboxes installed in our homes like other, newer neighborhoods, but they wouldn't approve that either," Escareno said.
The unresolved situation is even impacting some financially, causing them to either receive checks late or not at all.
"We've lost several checks, so we've had to call the schools to stop payment on checks and reissue other checks and just hope that the other checks come through because the first ones have obviously been lost or misplaced," Escareno said.
Escareno said the post office will no longer hold their mail, leaving residents wondering what will happen next.
"I just hope that the post office can give us some kind of answers. This is what we're dealing with everyday in this neighborhood," she said.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) said they have been in touch with local management of the USPS office on Port Avenue. They said management has been made aware of the damaged mailbox units.
KRIS 6 News also reached out to management, but they did not comment on if and when the mailboxes will be replaced.
For the latest local news updates click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
