The photo was taken right outside our Delta Junction, Alaska post office last Thursday. One box on this truck is from Delta that has been here for well over 12+ years, another from Copper Center and one from Tok.
Because of declining use, the U.S. Postal Service is removing many of the blue boxes. A known fact that in 1985, nearly 400,000 blue mailboxes were on American streets. Now only 160,000 remain and more are vanishing each day.
What is the main reason for this? The Internet seems to be the main culprit. With the digital revolution, we are able to pay bills online, send E-vites and E-mails online. Another known fact is that the volume of first class mail has declined in the last 10 years by more than 50%.
A missing mail box can be attributed to what is known as density testing, which is a process that the postal service is currently undergoing. Mail that goes into mailboxes is declining. The postal service is using density testing to find out if the mailboxes are being used, or if they are particularly needed in a neighborhood. In density testing, the postal service counts every piece of mail that gets dropped off in a mailbox for 14 days. If the average is 25 pieces of mail or less per day, that box is subject to relocation or removal. However, not every box that gets less than 25 pieces of mail will automatically get removed.
The Delta PO still has one box conveniently located out in the front parking lot. Please be sure to drop your mail in the box, to let the Postal service know that we still need and depend on our mail service here in Delta Junction.