The Steamboat Springs Post Office has already processed 191 requests and provided more than $64,000 in refunds to Steamboat Springs residents who have been paying for P.O. boxes with no access to free delivery.

“In the past, past administrations didn’t provide free street deliveries,” said Alex Garza, Steamboat Springs postmaster. “In this area a lot of people didn’t want delivery.”

After getting complaints, and requests for free P.O. boxes, the postal service has been evaluating current P.O. box holders over the past 16 months to see if residents should get free boxes and refunds. Residents who were asked and completed the postal service application process started receiving checks this month, and Garza said the post office is in the process of providing those that qualify with free boxes.

Garza the postmaster since November 2023, explained that in Steamboat Springs and many mountain resort communities, street delivery of mail was not desired in the past. He said demand has changed in recent years, and was accelerated by COVID-19, along with increased demand for package delivery and more new residents moving to town from urban areas.

The Steamboat Springs Post Office has long delivered mail to neighborhood cluster boxes, wall units in many living communities and free-standing private mailboxes often grouped in rows inside the post office delivery area. But many Steamboat residents still get their mail from P.O. boxes they pay for at the post office.

“Actually, the first day I got here I met with James Boxrud (with the U.S. Postal Service’s strategic communications department),” Garza recalled. “It was Nov. 18, 2023, and when I arrived, he already had a case of paperwork to turn in.”

Since arriving in Steamboat, Garza said his office has reached out to 8,000 P.O box holders who were asked to fill out 1093 forms, which are used when residents apply for a new P.O. box.

He said the form provided updated information on current box holders, so that the office could determine who is eligible for a free box, and who was eligible to get a refund. Of 1,400 forms that were returned, Garza said 551 box holders were eligible for the refund.

The post office considered several eligibility requirements including if the P.O. box was the resident’s only way of getting mail, the number of P.O. boxes leased by the same physical address and the size of the box. Refunds maxed out at $336, which covers the cost of a small box for two years.

Those that prefer the larger boxes may have received the maximum refund but might be asked to switch to the smaller size to get it at no cost. Additionally, residents living at addresses in Oak Creek, Hayden, North Routt and communities served by other post offices are not eligible.

Garza said the Steamboat Springs Post Office remains busy and continues to grow. The post office also has closed down a part of the office that used to house P.O. boxes to consolidate the space and open more room for incoming mail and processing.

He said he is hoping to continue to expand street deliveries as the number of cluster boxes in the community continues to grow.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve already added 1,000 addresses to the street deliveries,” Garza said. “I think it’s 989, to be exact, that are now getting street delivery that weren’t eligible before.”