Golden demands answers after third anniversary of West Paris post office closure passes with no update on reopening timeline

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) is demanding answers from the United States Postal Service (USPS) about why the West Paris post office has remained closed past the agency’s estimated timeline to reopen in May. 

May 28 marked the third anniversary of the closure of the West Paris post office, with the USPS yet to provide any update on purported reopening plans. Golden sent a May 30  letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about this facility — which follows letters sent in September 2023 and October 2022 — nearly ten months after the agency’s last substantive update on July 21, 2023, when USPS officials said they expected the facility to be “fully operational” again in May 2024.

Since the facility was shuttered in 2021, members of the community have needed to travel an additional seven miles to South Paris to access postal services, and the closure is affecting residents and local businesses’ mail service.

“While I understand the USPS cannot provide information relating to ongoing negotiations [over the facility’s lease], the lack of transparency and unwillingness to provide information to relay to my constituents who rely on the Postal Service every day is deeply concerning,” Golden wrote in the letter. “That is why I am once again asking for an honest and accurate estimated timeline for the reopening of the West Paris post office.”

“My constituents — your customers — deserve to know when their local post office will reopen or at least, if that information is unavailable, what is causing the delay,” he continued. “If your plans to reopen have changed, they deserve to know that too.”

“The Postal Service has lost focus under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. This is clearly evident in the disparity between how slowly it takes to reopen rural post offices to how rapidly they move forward to consolidate large processing facilities across the country,” said Scott Adams, President of the American Postal Workers Union Local 458. “Three years to get service back to West Paris, Maine, is unacceptable. Thank you to Congressman Golden for addressing not only West Paris, but others as well.”

Golden has championed holding the Postal Service accountable to Mainers throughout his time in Congress. Following his outreach to Postmaster General DeJoy last year, USPS reopened its Etna facility, which had also been closed since May 2021. Earlier this month, USPS announced that it was postponing plans to consolidate the Eastern Maine Processing & Distribution Facility in Hampden after bipartisan efforts led by Golden and other members of Congress. His bipartisan Timely Mail Delivery and Postal Services Protection Act — which he introduced in April — would permanently block the process USPS uses to consolidate mail processing facilities across the country. 

A copy of the letter can be found here, and is included below in full:

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May 30, 2024

Mr. Louis DeJoy 
Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
75 L ’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, D.C. 20260-1000

Dear Postmaster General DeJoy:

I write again regarding the lack of transparency and communication from the United States Postal Service (USPS) regarding the reopening of the post office in West Paris, Maine. It has now been three years since the USPS closed the facility, requiring residents of West Paris and neighboring communities to travel an additional seven miles to the next closest USPS facility.

Since USPS announced the closure of the West Paris post office my requests for status updates about the reopening have been met with unsatisfactory and ultimately false responses from your agency. The most substantive update Mainers received was on July 21, 2023, when the USPS  said, “The Postal Service is nearing completion of negotiations for a replacement facility. We anticipate the facility to be fully operational within the next 10 months.” Now, nearly ten months later, not only is the West Paris post office still closed, but there is also no update on whether a lease has even been executed. 

While I understand the USPS cannot provide information relating to ongoing negotiations, the lack of transparency and unwillingness to provide information to relay to my constituents who rely on the Postal Service every day is deeply concerning. That is why I am once again asking for an honest and accurate estimated timeline for the reopening of the West Paris Post Office. 

My constituents – your customers – deserve to know when their local post office will reopen or at least, if that information is unavailable, what is causing the delay. If your plans to reopen have changed, they deserve to know that too. 

I appreciate your attention to this important matter. 

Sincerely, 

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